Life Expectancy
by Conscripts
Summary: "It's called Motor Neuron Disease...the average life expectancy is three years. "Those words. They had killed me before the disease can. I asked myself: What's the point anymore? That question would remain without answers for a whole year, and I'd thought it would never be. Until I met a person who knew the answer. A slowly deteriorating girl who lived not a day in sadness.
1. Chapter 1: One Year Before

**Welcome readers to my second SAO story. Where's the first one you ask (The Scope to My Heart)? Well, long story short, there are a few reasons why I put the whole story on hold for the whole freaking year. I'm really sorry for those who have been anticipating on that one, but several writing projects kept me busy, along with some writers block and my irl college work, which had been putting me in the occupied zone for a while. But don't worry, your follows, favorites and reviews really encouraged me, and I will try to write the second chapter as soon as possible.**

 **Anyway, so about this one. I have been cooking this concept for a while, since the middle of March, but was thinking of how to develop it. A little spoiler ahead. The idea is basically a terminal ill VR player in the SAO universe. But what keeps me wondering is genre and type of stories I want to tell. I'm pretty sure there are hundreds of stories about characters playing through the death game out there. I don't criticize them, it's just that I don't want to tell the same story. That and the fact that the Mother Rosario's arc is not really expanded much, so I wanted to explore it a bit. Give it an untold story that people can be interested in. And I hope that this chapter sparks some interests within you.**

 **For this fic, I'll try my best to stick to the canonical storyline, that at this time is still the Fairy Dance arc, so things like Sword Skills in ALO did not exist. But I may still make mistakes from time to time, so feel free to point that out for me. Also that elements in the canonical stories may contrast with this one.**

 **So here's another take on SAO. I hope you enjoy and please if you have some time, please leave a review, and I'll see you guys in the next chapter.**

 **Disclaimer: All original properties of SAO belong to their respective party.**

 **EDIT: Alright screw it. It seems that my attempt to hide the disease ended up backfiring because people don't seem to be interested. So I'll just put it on out here**

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Chapter 1: One Year Before.

March 29, 2025

It was Friday. A normal Friday. The weather was a bit unusual today, full of clouds and no signs of sunlight anywhere, but it wasn't anything too extraordinary. But it did make my already miserable life more miserable

I slowly and clumsily opened the door leading to my apartment, my walking cane striding shakily in front of me. That small, claustrophobic apartment that I had gotten too used to. Having returned home from college, the trip was a lot more tiring than what I was used to. It had been like this for nearly a year, ever since that day. Going to college, studying what I thought wouldn't even have a point in learning anymore, returning home, playing games to pass the time, then going to sleep. The cycle kept repeating. The only occasional rock in the spinning cog was the occasional call to the nearest hospital for a medical check on my muscle strength. That was it.

Yeah, I have pretty much given up on life already. It had already been shortened by whoever knows how long, 2 years at most, and my expectations had been reduced to zero. Both publicly and personally. No one expected anything. And I didn't expect anything I either. The irony was beautiful and bitter, for how I used to be a very different person back then. The polar opposite of my present self. A boy who always dreamed, of an extraordinary life, of a fairy tale, of infamy and fame, and of esteem. Yeah, what normal kids would imagine. Now, that was only a shadow.

I dragged my limbs through the floor, stumbling over a chair next to my desk as I tried to reach for my bed, and for the red visor that I had been so attached to in my life. Up to now, it was probably the only reason I still existed. That still kept me motivated.

Virtual Reality

I remembered the first time I tried it. It was such a fascinating experience. I could never forget the smooth movement, and that there were no differences between moving there than moving in real life. There is now though. Everything felt…real. The boundaries were non-existent. Nothing could stop our imagination and creativity from soaring high. The experience was good enough for me to come and try again, and again at the testing compound. And then I decided to buy my own VR set and began diving into it myself. Who would have thought that I was now hanging onto it like a lifeline?

I sighed, as I picked up the visor, lied comfortably on my bed, having decided to skip dinner for the day. I would end up a little hungry tomorrow, but who cares. Today was important. Whilst trying to put my VR visor onto my head, I had to use a bit of strength to do so, just to lift that visor up to above my head level and place it firmly on my head. So I had become that weak huh? How long would I be able to keep this up?

The countdown began. I patiently waited, closing my eyes. And then.

"Link start…"

And I was already in that world. The world of fantasy, of magic, of fairies, of elves, and of life:

Alfheim Online

I was ready for another game session. Today I had to beat that boss in that dungeon. It had dragged me down for over a week now. And today was the final day before that event-only sword disappeared. This was my only chance. If I failed, who knows if the game developer would actually give the players another chance to get that thing again. I had to win. Even if it killed me dozens of times, I would come back. To put this blade deep onto his head.

I entered the main menu screen, in which I would have to choose to log into an existing character or to register a new character. Like always, I picked the former. And the figure of my long friend emerged. A better version of me, whom I had always wanted to become in the real world, but could not. A fairly thin young Sylph warrior, apparently near his twenties, with average height, fluffy white hair and unique pointy ears, wearing a set of steel light armor colored dark green. On his waist was a one-handed silver Swiss saber. Nothing else.

People might ask: "Why not carry a shield or anything?" I had once been a shield wielder, but after a while, I had decided against it. At that time, I was already building myself to focus on building up speed and agility, which is the reason why I chose Sylph as my race. And a speeder's style was the key to my decision. I am to use my maneuverability to dodge incoming attacks, outpace them and strike at vulnerable spots. A shield would simply slow me down. And as I level up, the shield gets heavier and heavier. It may be possible for those who also focus on building strength so that they could carry them, but not for me. I wanted to build my speed only, so my strength was only barely enough to satisfice. And so I ditched the shield and went only 1 handed. It was not the best fighting style, I would say, but it was effective to me.

The figure descended to me, as a small holographic panel appeared before me with a name: Hirano.

The name was actually my real name: Hirano Amari. I didn't think too much when I put in my real name as my avatar name. It was my name, my identity; eleven letters that distinguished me from everyone else in the world, and that people could relate to. It was the name that everything I have done was connected to, so I did not want to put a different alias. Sure there was the privacy issue, but I did not care. Anymore.

I chose my avatar, and a pillar of light engulfed me as I transformed into the man who was before me just a second ago. Seconds later emerged the world of Alfheim.

I arrived at where I left off a day ago. The town of Hien. It was small, perhaps only the size of a village, with red brick houses surrounding me with the login portal as the center. I wasted no time and immediately followed the path in which I have headed down so many times that I simply wasn't strangers to it anymore, heading for the dungeon that I was supposed to clear.

Arrived at the dark dungeon that extended deeply into the thin artificial mist, supported by a number of large pillars that lined the road to the lower level, I hacked my way through all the pitiful weaker monsters that wandered around hindering the ways of the new and inexperienced to the dungeon. It was then that I noticed something a little strange. The number of monsters was surprisingly not that many. It was strange to me because days before I fought like fifteen to twenty of them before descending to the lower area. Was someone here?

I went deeper and deeper, down to the second lower area, killing all in my path while ignoring the rest. Again, the same confusion occurred. And finally, I found myself at the third and lowest area. After this would be the boss. But here is when I had to be careful. The power of these monsters was powerful enough to kill me in three to four hits. I would need to try my best to avoid combat and head directly for the boss room as quickly as possible.

I crouched down on my knee, took stances and charged forward. The nearest monsters to me soon took notice of my presence, but before they could even reach me to deliver a strike, I dashed right past them. But not long after, my beeline rush was interrupted by another monster, a wight that wielded a huge staff for magic casting. He was right in my path. It was lucky for me, as I simply ram myself, along with my blade onto the thing, shattering him into millions of pieces while I did not lose much momentum. Another monster dead, I pressed on.

Then, another monster appeared in my path. Or rather, multiple monsters. Oh crap...This wasn't supposed to happen. Monsters would normally appear randomly in the specific area, but no monsters would be spawned next to the other. But here, I encountered three of them. Three giant skeletons, with heavy armor, shields, and swords. And I was charging straight at them!

There was little time. If I kept on charging, I would get blocked by their gigantic armor and then killed. There was no way I could break through it. So, with utmost haste, I grind my feet onto the ground, forcing myself to stop, halting right in front of the three skeletons. Before they could react, I jumped up and delivered a horizontal slash at the neck level. The saber made contact with one of the skeletons at its neck, severing his skulls from his body. The attack was lethal, and the skeletal warrior burst into red pieces.

But then the other two acted. They were not distracted by their companion's death and quickly attacked him with their own sword slashes. I saw it coming, so I jumped back to dodge. But then the two skeletons pressed onward, not allowing me to make a run. They were fast, faster than normal skeletons, despite their heavy armors.

I was in a pretty bad spot, as the two approaching skeletons were limiting my ability to move anywhere but backward. I was planning to make a run for it, try and make some distance and ignore them. But before any of that could take place, the screeching sound behind me alerted me to my mistake. I turned around and saw a huge fat zombie trying to lash out at me. I quickly retaliated and killed it off, but then the two skeletons caught up to me, ready to strike.

God damn it. I'm dead…

So it's a restart, huh? What a colossal waste of my time.

It was a price for actually playing the glass-cannon kind of play style. If you got hit, you're pretty much fucked. I didn't actually mess up this time though. I did not expect three skeletons to gather in one spot. That was definitely abnormal. I could only think of one reasonable explanation for this…

SLASH!

Someone was here…

I was ready to be killed, but it turned out that I wasn't. When I came to realize it, one skeleton was already gone, replaced by shattered fragments of its former self. The other skeleton did deliver its strike, but it wasn't enough to kill me. It did, however, took a portion of my health away.

Seizing my chance, I retaliated and unleashed my sword skills on the skeleton, slashing repeated on the armor and then finally a final stab, punching through it, onto his bone body, draining its health and ended its life.

As the skeleton cracked into shards, I soon realized something. Someone. I was right. Someone was here. The first impression was purple, presumably an Imp player. And as the shards began to disperse, I soon got a glimpse of this person who had perhaps just saved me. Before me was a beautiful young slim girl, with a long purplish-black hair. She wore an obsidian armor, glimmered by the shards of the skeletons reflecting upon it, along with a knee-length skirt, a pair of majestic armbands, all in purple. She also wore a headband, red in majority, but there were slight visuals of yellows. Her face was smug, cheerful, yet appearing polite as she turned her pretty delicate ruby-red eyes to face me. Then, she spoke.

"Onii-san. Are you alright?"

A little stunned, I sheathed my sword before answering.

"Y-Yes, I'm fine." I scratched my head a bit, as I replied. "Are you the one who just saved me?"

"Yup." She gave a V sign with her two fingers, as she smirked. "I was hiding behind that pillar when you suddenly jumped out of nowhere and got trapped by those skeletons."

I pondered a little with what she said. "So you were the reasons why those skeletons were grouping up together?"

It was her turn to scratch her head. She sounded a bit silly. "Yeahh. I was trying to pass through these weak monsters to get to the boss quickly but turns out they weren't so weak after all. So I had to cast a cloaking spell on myself so that they wouldn't notice me and left. But then I saw you, so I decided to help." But then she pouted a bit. "At least you could have given me a thank."

"Oh yeah, where are my manners? Thanks for your help back there…uhh…what's your name?" I asked.

"I'm Yuuki. Nice to meet you." She replied, offering me her hands, and I took it gently. Her hand was a bit small, compared to mine, even though I was not a burly guy myself. She appeared to be significantly younger than me, probably still in high school, and looked a little fragile. But her shakes boasted with insurmountable confidence. She did not seem to be bothered by the aspect of meeting a strange person.

"It is a pleasure to meet you. I'm Hirano." I gave her my name in exchange, as we let go of each other's hand. "So you're going to take on this boss by yourself? Or do you have guildmates with you?"

"Nah. For boss raids, we are usually together, but today my guys are busy IRL, so I am the only participating member." She replied, her eyes turned upward, her hand again back behind her head

"It's the last day you know."

"Yeah, but I can't help it. Most of my guildmates are having their medical checks, while a few had important family issues, so they couldn't be here." She sounded a bit down, but soft and gentle.

Medical check?

It really felt commonplace to the likes of me. But the word that perked my curiosity was the word 'most'. Were they all friends from the same hospital or clinic? Most likely, since they were away on the same day. Not that I know how large Yuuki's guild was, but it was the most reasonable explanation. But I didn't want to press on the question. It may not be comfortable saying it right here.

"How about you? You're alone as well?" She asked as I nodded.

"I am mostly by myself anyway. I did have a few friends that I usually have as companies, but this dungeon isn't at their level yet. They don't play that much."

"They must be busy people, eh?"

My gaze headed for the ground briefly.

"More like I have a bit of free time on hand," I replied, as I looked back at her. "To be honest, this dungeon's level is excess for me, but it was worth a shot."

"So we're aiming for the same prize eh? Hey, how about we work together to get it?"

I raised my eyebrows at the prospect. I placed my fingers on my chin. A cooperation, huh? It was certainly good for obtaining the prize since two is obviously better than one. However, the thing was: there was only one prize. You could not split the sword into two. How were we going to solve the question of who would be getting the sword after we have obtained it?

"There's only one sword right?" Before I could speak, Yuuki kept on. "We'll get it first, and we'll compete for it? A duel to see who is more worthy of the sword. I mean, you're trying to beat the boss single-handed right? You must be a very good player to actually dream of doing that."

I chuckled a bit. "Well, I'm basically a speeder, basically trying to dodge incoming attacks. That's my only strength really. Remove that and I am basically helpless, even against a lower level boss."

"Still!" She pressed on, her cheery attitude still bright as ever. "However you see it, you are definitely capable of defeating this one. You are alone, I am without a company. So why not join forces? It is better this way right?"

Hmm…

Logically, she was right. Well, whatever…

"Ok, that works."

"Yay! It is a deal then!" She happily extended her hands again, this time for a different reason, as I shook it, a little reluctant this time.

And with that, we were ready for the boss encounter. Before us were only a handful of monsters, so both of us took them down easily. Before we enter the boss room, each of us took a few moments. To rest, physically and mentally.

"Are you ready, Hirano-san?" She turned to ask, once she was ready

"Just a moment. I'll have to heal first." I replied, as I opened the menu panel and gave myself a healing potion. The skeleton earlier surely did a lot of damage, and I did not want to enter the boss room not fully healed. "Ok, I'm ready now."

"Let's go!" Yuuki shouted out as she led the way, approaching the boss room's door. Then she placed her two hands onto one of the doors, which was pretty much as ten times as tall as her, and pushed it. It was an odd scene, a young petite girl trying to force open a door that probably would have weighed tons if in real life. But that was simply just a command to the game to tell that there were players who wished to challenge the boss and that the door should be opened.

As a gesture only, I joined her, trying to push the door open. Shortly after, they did. Immediately, I could feel the haunting stench wrapping its fingers around me, as I stepped into the dark room. It wasn't a bad smell per say, but it sent chills down me. The ground I stood on as I took my steps into the room, it felt like dirt. The room was completely pitch black, with the only source of light creeping savagely through the entrance that we just took, which soon closed, completely trapping us inside. This was common, however, since the battle would either end with you dead or the boss turned into tiny little pieces and dispersed into thin air.

The air grew heavier bit by bit, despite me, and probably Yuuki as well, having known who we would be facing already. My heart was beating faster with every second. The ground was shaking, at first a bit, then it grew to become a small tremor that shook our feet to the bones. It was all too clear. He's here.

Before me, the ground began to rise. A purple aura of energy leaked through the cracks of the earth, threatening to damage any players who happened to be nearby. Then something emerged. A brown head of a horse peeked out, its eyes were burning. The horse continued to emerge from the ground, its size three times as large as me, revealing a rein attached to his mouth, a saddle and then finally, a man riding on it. The man donned a set of armor, hidden behind a layer of leather jacket. On his waist was a huge sword, long, thin and deadly. His top…was nothing. He had no heads. But he would soon have one.

The boss of this floor, detailed as the leader of a failed army, his heads taken by his enemies, his soldiers fallen dead on the battlefield, but his thirst vengeance never died, never accepts to rot along with his fallen body. And here he was, preparing to cut down anyone who breached the sovereignty of his battlefield. Three health bars appeared before him, as his hands moved to unsheathe his blades. A mighty screeching sound slashed the air, as the purple energy surrounded him, enveloping his body, through his body, and into his collar. Soon, the energy took the shape of a white-bearded, white-haired man, with the purplish flame covering the spiritual energy. And finally, the name emerged near the health bar:

Demonlord Eachtar.

With a slash of the rein, the headless horseman ordered his steed forward, the purplish flames reigning on their body, like a train locomotive, charging at the two players. I held my blade firmly, as both of us timed our moves perfectly. And we both dodged to our lefts and rights respectively, just as the horse gallop through. The boss knew he had missed, so he slowed down, and got ready for another charge.

I recovered from the dodge and saw Yuuki, who was not too far away from me, suddenly giving me a nod. Her face was serious. This was our first time fighting each other, but she probably had assumed that I knew what I had to do. And I sure did. Before this headless horseman could prepare another charge, I had already committed my own charge. Zooming into him, closing the distance as quickly as possible, I delivered a slash that resembled the X letter to the horse's head before ending it with a flat on horizontal strike. With that, I immediately ran sideways, so as to avoid any possible counter-attacks, and letting Yuuki the space to attack. And she did it with a vengeance. She also charged and stopped right in front of the horseman. And with a shout, her grip on her blades tightened, as she delivered a barrage of jousts onto the spot where I had just hit.

The joint attack was so immense that the horse had to stand up with on its two back legs, the neighs of pain echoed throughout the room. But its health bars were still in its first. It would be a long fight.

After the attack, I kept up with the motto that I developed during my game session: 'Be fast, find the weakness and exploit it'. So I wheeled around the demon, charged back at him while his horse was still standing on its legs, and delivered a single slash to his waist, before evasively wheeled away. This would cycle for a few times, slowly draining the health of this fiend. While I was doing this, Yuuki would attack with her powerful sword combos to distract the demon, allowing me to effectively close my distance without being intercepted.

From first glance, it may seem that we were actually a pretty good team, but then, right after my attack, the boss seemed to get angered (I did not know if it was a computerized trick or that it really did get angry) by our constant harassment, and immediately lashed out, slashing his sword up and down. Because of that, Yuuki had to abandon her assault. As a result, the demon was not distracted, and could turn his attention towards me,

I was still on course to harass him. I was intending to slash through his back, but the thing suddenly turned to face me. Purplish flames escaped the horse's mouth like a flamethrower. If they were capable of human emotions, they were definitely angry.

"Oh no no no. I have to change course now."

Just as the thought zip through my mind, the demon unleashed a burst of energy that forced me to stop my advance. If I came any closer, I would be hit. And to me, any hits could be fatal. Not allowing any time, the horseman quickly approached me, his sword over his head. A screech was ensured, and the blade mercilessly struck. Its first contact was my Swiss saber, as I quickly raised my blade to meet his. One hand, then supported by the other. It was nowhere enough to counter his ridiculous strength. I knew if I hold up any longer, I would be dead, so I quickly redirected his sword with mine, and quickly took a side step, allowing his blade to strike the ground. But still, the impact was already enough that it drained me a bit of my health.

But the danger wasn't just that. The demon quickly lifted his sword from the ground and prepared for another slash. Crap! I had to parry this. Or I'll be dead!

Suddenly, I heard a shout coming from my side

"Hirano-san!"

And then, I could sense a sword jousting from behind. Its target, the demon's sword. Yuuki's timing was perfect. The tip of her blade hit right at the side of the demon's blade, pushing it a little to the side, missing my torso by a matter of inches.

"Quickly, while he is distracted!" She shouted to me.

With a nod, I jumped at the opportunity and showed-off my own sword combo, something that I learned and carried with me into the game. From my memories, I swung my sword. It really felt smooth. And powerful. The feeling when your arms, legs, and torsos moved with such ferocity and power as the blade struck the demon. It felt…real…and human…

Once the maneuver was complete, I quickly ran away from the demon, whilst Yuuki was dealing with the demon's next attack herself. We were back on track.

A while later, the boss eventually lost half of his second health bar. That meant half of his health in total. Pretty much according to command, the aura of purplish energy appeared to strengthen, more furious, more intense and more tremendous. And then it expanded, covering us both, dealing a small bit of damage to us, whilst its real purpose was below the ground.

This was a lot of time, the point when I die. The reason would be clear in just a second. From below the ground, a hand suddenly popped up. A rotten hand. Then many more appeared, in everywhere in the battle area. The hand then used the ground below as base and emerged that could haunt a child for the rest of his life. From the ground emerged dozens of soldiers, risen from the dead, their flesh still decaying, their body still retained the weapons and armors from their livings. Of course, they were only computer generated figures, but it looked so real. That you could feel it was right there.

"Kyah!"

It was right there, next to you, ready to drag you onto the ground.

A yell from Yuuki alerted me, as I could notice hands popping up around me. One of which grabbed onto my legs, in which I quickly slashed, amputated it. And from what I may suspect, they had grabbed onto my young partner as well. And damned me if I was wrong. Yuuki was trying to get her legs free of the zombie's hands but was struggling. I could see the situation pretty bad for her, so I rushed to her position. With a few swords plays, I cut through all the arms that were grabbing hold onto her, allowing her to flee the area without further damage.

"Thanks! Man, those zombies are so annoying!" She said as we both moved to the rear of the arena.

It should be fairly easy to deal with those arms, but this time probably because she was near the demon, so she had more to worry about than just those creepy hands.

"I mean this is usually the point when I die, so I share your view," I said. "Say, have you gotten through this point of the level?"

"I, I mean we have, up until the final health bar. Then the boss's attack speed got faster, and we died." She replied.

"Hmm. So do you have any sort of plans for this one?"

"I do actually. But it involves three or more players combined. A magic user and two assault players."

"Do you use magic?" I asked as she shook her head, firmly and decisively.

"Nah ah. Just some personal ones like cloaking, but it doesn't work in the boss environment. Do you?"

"No…Not even one." I replied. "If we don't have any magic or buffs, and this is a flight restrictive environment, how do you think we are going to get through this one?"

"Hmm…" She gave a long hum, her hands pinching her chin again and again. "Ah! I have an idea!"

"What is it?"

"The Demonlord at this current period of time will mainly let his soldiers fight, so his stats are not as high. He only regains the stats once all his minions are dead. So…" She raised her blade and pointed towards a few of these zombies. "If we can somehow round them up in one place, we can practically ignore them and attack the demon instead!"

"Soo…" I kind of get what she was saying, but wanted to confirm. "You're saying that the reason why we struggle is that we are attacking both the demon and his minions. So instead we should rally those minions and just let them chase us, while we hit on the demon?"

"Yup!" She nodded profusely. "We're fast, those zombies are slow. It will do it. No question!"

Yeah…the soundness of the plan did speak to me. Logically, it should be viable. Practically, well…no time for practical analysis. The zombies were approaching. No freaking way we could sit cozily and talk about how practical it was. We would just have to take this into our own hands.

"Let's do it!" I gave her an approval as we both got ready.

"Good luck!" She gave me a thumbs-up.

We were on our feet, and with a coordinated hand-signal, both of us dashed away.

I ran in the opposite direction as Yuuki, zigzagging around, booing those undead warriors. Fancy words aside, I was basically moving as fast as possible and stick my face as close as possible to those brainless dudes, so that their attention was drawn towards me. I knew that the game had coded them to chase after the nearest living player, so I simply just have to draw their attention, and they would follow me like ants. Swiftly, I zoomed across the map, being more careful not to repeat that mistake with the skeletons. I did not necessarily get too close.

Once I reached probably the rear of the map, I quickly spotted Yuuki on the other rear, as she shot me a wave, and a signal to head for a common meeting point. Wasting no minutes, I headed there. Our distance closed. Once there, we simply waited as the zombies sluggishly drag their wretched body across the battle arena.

"Ok, once they're near, we'll charge," I whispered to her, right before she gave me a nod as a response.

"Don't aim for the horse. The body takes more damage." She also added as I took note.

No signals this time. The zombies would be our call. As they were mindlessly trying to bog us down, we were tactically communicating. Once the moment was right, we both sped away, rushing at the demon, away from the zombies. I was at the right of the demon, while Yuuki tried to keep up with my great speed at the left. Neared, I devoted my techniques, my skills, my power, everything I had into my blade.

Up, down, up, down-left, dodge.

I used every single moment I had before the boss could retaliate against me and that I had to dodge. And once the boss had finished his attacks, the cycle repeated. On the other side, I could notice Yuuki. She was also ferociously hitting the demon with her sword techniques. Her long hair danced in sync with her elegant sword plays; they swirled, waved with her motions. She was amazingly good in swordsmanship, though it did not follow any particular sword style, not that I knew about. Her motions, the movements of her head, chest, hips, and limbs seemed more effortless. It was like she was not actually sword fighting…but rather dancing, and her opponent, the demon, was her dancing partner. You could say that her movements were all dependent on what her opponent would do. She would either move out of the way of her enemy's strike, parry it with utter grace and counter-attack with the strength that came not from brute strength, but from speed and refinement.

It would go on like that for a while, with Yuuki drawing most of the boss's attention, so that I had more time hitting on him, and both of us striking as quickly as possible before the zombies caught up to us. And then suddenly, the second health bar on the boss was depleted. The demon gave one large and menacing roar, as the purple energy aura began to surround him once again.

"His speed's up! Keep up the pace!" Yuuki yelled out

"HAAAH!"

With a shout, I slammed my blade onto his body, again like times before, cutting through his wicked flesh like a knife through butter, leaving in my trails only the red white mark that was defined in the game system as wounds. Rinse, repeat. I did that time again and again and again, as the boss's HP was slowly and tiresomely drained. It somehow appealed to me that he not just increased attack speed, but defenses as well. My attack was significantly weaker than before. Still, I was very lucky today. If this was actually what the boss was capable of, I would have been hopelessly humbled. If not for Yuuki, who was combining the effort to quench his life points while, more importantly, drawing the demon's attention for most of the time for me to strike. To be honest, if it weren't for her, I would never have gotten that sword.

And then, after countless attacks and endless tensions, the demon's health point reached zero. The horse the demon was sitting on seemed to lose its power, or perhaps its will, to stand, as the weakened animal finally broke, collapsing on the dirt-ground below. The flame of energy surrounding the demon began to waver, while the soldiers also fell dead while still trying to catch up to the two players. For the demon himself, his head, which had been fueled by the purplish energy for the whole battle, slowly began to disperse, as the flames weakened. Ultimately, the head disappeared, and the lifeless body collapsed along with the horse. The rest of the corpse then, like usual, turned into tiny little shards and also faded into oblivion…

I fell on one knee, my saber stabbing the ground, trying my best to stabilize my breathing. A long, tough battle, but I did it. No, we did it. It was all thanks to Yuuki…

I looked up at her. She was a bit silent, her breathing was audible. The movement of her chest and throat could also be seen pretty clearly from my position. She must be as tired as I do. Make sense, since she did more work that I do. But then…

"We did it, Hirano-san! We've beaten it!" She immediately went back to being the cheerful, energetic girl that struck the first impression on me. She was bouncing around in the arena in great delight; her hands were punching the air repeatedly. She was probably not believing what both she and I had accomplished.

I couldn't help but chuckle a bit. She was being very cute and endearing, and most importantly happy. I had no doubt. That smile on her face…

"Well, we did it…" I gave a rather tired and perhaps a little mood-killing response, but she didn't seem to care. She immediately rushed to my side as I stood up, her face beamed with delight and gratitude.

"Thank you Hirano-san! I'd lost my hope when I learned that my guildmates were away today, but you're a miracle today! Thank you so much!"

I was a little flustered, not sure how to respond to that. Her energy was a bit too much to keep up. But thankfully, before the whole situation turned awkward, something appeared in front of me. A silver panel saying:

 _ **Congratulations! You have beaten the dungeon boss!**_

 _ **Here is your prize: Obsidian Crusader (x1)**_

Obsidian Crusader. This must be the weapon.

Before I obtain the weapon, I looked briefly at the stats of the given weapon. My jaw nearly dropped. One-handed sword skill requirement: 700. I barely was able to wield that one. It was surely worthy of a boss dungeon drop.

I clicked the OK button on the panel, and the sword slowly began to materialize in front of me. The sword lengthened at about half of my height only, and was two-edged, with a sharp tip at one end of the blade. The sword boasted obsidian color and a unique design, with the section above the hilt shaped like a few diamonds place on top of each other. On the side of the blade, also above the hilt, similar design patterns were also apparent, but in gold. The hilt, on the other hand, was more or less simple. No fancy ornaments, just a black straight cylindrical hilt.

The blade slowly descended, and finally landed on my two palms. Despite the short length of the blade, it carried a significant amount of weight. 700 values of skill's worth. I placed my hand on the hilt and swung it around a few times. Yup, no doubt. This was surely a powerful blade.

Then, I looked at Yuuki. She was observing me curiously. Or more likely she was observing the blade curiously. Now that the boss fight was over, we were going to have to fight each other to determine the ownership of this weapon. That was what we agreed on earlier, but…

I just didn't feel like doing it anymore…

Observing the blade again, I sighed. Things were really bothering me. Truthfully, I really wanted this weapon. I had worked for a week for this weapon, trying my hardest despite odds trying to obtain the weapon. But now that I had achieved it with Yuuki here, for some reasons, I just didn't feel like the weapon deserved to be with me. Maybe because for the whole battle, Yuuki was probably the one doing the most work out there. She probably had dished out more damage than I do. She also undeniably helped to keep the demon distracted so that I could do my job properly. That she was the one who deserved the Obsidian Crusader more than me. Or maybe…

"Here."

Or maybe because I thought that the blade wouldn't do much good for a dying man like me…

"Eh?" Yuuki's eyes widened, looking confused.

"Take it. It's yours." I forced a smile, hoping to just get this over with, but the inevitable question could not be dodged.

"W-Why? I thought you want it too?" She asked.

"Yeah, but I don't think I'm gonna be able to beat you anyway, so…" I lied my way through. Maybe I was actually right, but I was actually not telling the real reason.

"Hey…don't be so pessimistic. I saw you fighting that demon back there, you were great! Believe me, you may even surprise yourself."

Surprise me?

I chuckled bitterly.

"Nah. I saw you fight that thing too. You surely did more work than I do." I pushed the sword into her hands. Heavily I sighed.

"Besides, I just didn't want to anymore…"

I just let my mind slipped. And those words seemed to cut somehow. Yuuki probably had noticed it. That pathetic and defeated look on my face. It was funny, I should've been happy instead since this was our victory, but instead, I wore a face like I just got my ass kicked. She was silent herself, her eyes were looking around, seemingly unable to answer me.

But at least she held onto the blade. Seemed like my words got through somehow, though I probably had left questions in her mind. But it was fine by me. I might never meet her again anyway, and the sword would serve its new owners better. Hopefully.

"Anyway, it has been a great experience so far. I'll see you again, hopefully."

I said my goodbyes and was about to turn away and leave.

"Wait!"

Yuuki suddenly called me, stopping me in my tracks. I turned myself around, only to see the young Imp a little hesitant. A light pink hue seemed to formulate on her cheeks, as she scratched her hair once again. She tried to laugh but wasn't enough to hide the fact that she didn't know what to say.

"D-Do you want to have a drink then? Just to celebrate our victory. I mean, we still work together back there. I just want to thank you for your help…"

There were little reservations while she was saying that, but at the end, she gave me a smile. It made it harder to say no. I mean I found little point in associating with someone else now. But that smile and cheerfulness, for some reasons, I felt attracted. It really felt like I would have done something wrong if I refused.

I looked down at the floor a few times, the grip on my sword loosened. It wouldn't hurt, right?

"Sure, no problem."

* * *

 **I know. The fight sequence sucks. I just don't write close quarter combat fights that well. But this is probably the only few fights written in this story, as this is a more emotion-oriented story, so please bear with me.**

 **If you ask me, the Obsidian Crusader is actually Yuuki's sword that is used in canon. I do not know exactly if it has a different name in the books or anything, so correct me if I'm wrong.**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoyed. Please comment on what you think if you have time, what I should improve on so that I can work on it in later chapters. I'll see you guys later!**


	2. Chapter 2: Friends

**Hello everyone. Thank you for those enthusiastic with my story. In truth, I honestly thought I would receive more than that, or at least a few reviews and criticisms. But I guess that's a little too high. But still, I received a lovely PM, in which gave me lots of encouragement to continue this story and a nice advice. So here is the second chapter, I hope you enjoy and please, if you like or dislike the story and have any pieces of advice, ideas for future chapters, please leave your thoughts down in a review. I will read, think and consider your reviews and leave a reply in the next chapter. Just don't put a rant session there. I don't take insults nicely.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own SAO**

* * *

Chapter 2: Friends

Alne City

It was supposed to be a drink only.

"Oii! Hirano-sannn! Try this one out!"

But then it spiraled out to become a whole tour of the city down the World Tree

"Uhh, are you ok with spending that much in one day?" I asked, a little worried about the current pace we were going. Yuuki had probably spent as much money that could be used to acquire a personal dragon, on purely drinks and food only.

"Not to worry! I still have lots to spare. Come! I bet you haven't tried this Tremble Shortcake before in your entire life."

With a sigh, I walked up to her. Before her, the NPC chef was busy making the said food, while trying to look cool, showing off his skill as a chef. Now, who the hell added that feature I must give that guy a medal for actually succeeding in trying to make the whole waiting ordeal more 'interesting', in a way. Still, the chef still finished that thing quickly enough.

"Hmm. Why does it look like a normal strawberry cake to me?"

"So you really haven't tried them. Go on, have a bite."

She gave me a big smile as she pushed the plate near me. The smell really did intrigue my curiosity. I picked up the spoon next to me, cut a small piece of cake and place it in my mouth. It was then that I realized it wasn't just any normal strawberry cake. The moment the cake left the spoon, the sweet and sourness combining in one rushed to my head like a racing horse. The cream melted in my tongue, while the strawberry was crushed under my teeth, the shuddering sensation was rushing through me like electricity. An acidic, sweet and pleasant taste.

"Hmm! It's surprisingly good." I said. Yuuki seemed glad, as she grinned.

"Hehe. Twenty-five thousand Yrds for you."

Twenty-five?!

"Ugh!"

I almost choked.

"That's all my money at this point! Are you kidding?! How am I supposed to live now?!"

"Hahaha! Oh brother, you should see the look on your faces." She giggled at my reaction. That wasn't funny you…

"Don't try to change the subject!"

Fuck that. Did I just waste my entire effort for the whole year into a strawberry cake?!

"Hehe. Don't worry" Yuuki assured, still recovering from the whole ordeal. "I'll cover that for you. Consider it my thanks."

"Haah, thank you for that…" I said, sarcastically.

Crisis averted. But still…

How much time and money did this girl spend in this game?

I mean, she and I just met for like three hours, and she was already treating me to a cake that's worth half the price of a house. And the fact that she still had a lot to spare. Hell, I knew that some people would spend their entire fortune investing in trying to make their gaming experience a little more special, even if it was just a bunch of cosmetics that didn't even affect their overall gameplay. But here, she is probably, what, fifteen years old? Who the hell would give her money to invest in an online MMO game?

"Hey, Yuuki" I called her.

"Yeah?"

"How do you get that much money anyway?" I asked.

"Me?" She replied. "Well, it is a combination of both hard work and a few farming tips. I usually go to a cave area near the Sylph territory, since there are lots of fairly easy monsters to kill and get some money. Hey! You're a Sylph too. How about one day we go there together to enrich ourselves? I'll show you the way."

"Together?" That was a little unexpected…Two of us. "Are you ok with sharing me this information?"

"Why not? We're friends aren't we?"

We're friends now? That was fast.

I didn't know if she was a bit off in the head or not, but she definitely a little too trusting here.

"But if you're gonna go with me, you'll have to be patient. You aren't gonna enrich yourself overnight." She added.

"Wait wait." I shook my head skeptically. "So you say that you grind all the way up?"

"Yup."

"How long have you been playing the game?"

Yuuki pondered a little bit. " and my friends converted to ALO from Insect Site, last October…so it is nearly six months."

I hunched my shoulders forward. My eyes almost popped out of the socket.

"How many hours do you spend in this game?"

Yuuki placed her hand on her chin, looking upwards, in thoughts.

"I log in twenty-four over twenty-four…though I spend probably around twenty hours doing the grind."

She spoke that fact so casually it nearly caused my jaw to fall to the floor again. What the hell? Twenty four over twenty-four log in? Nobody has ever done that kind of binge ever since the SAO incident. And that was totally unintentional and forced. How does she eat and drink? How does she handle her education and so on? And who would approve this kind of lifestyle for god's sake?

I looked at Yuuki, my eyes widened both in shock and in skepticism. There was something about this girl. Something that did not make sense, yet deep. Something that was pulling me into trying to find out more about her.

"How do you even manage to maintain a twenty-four-hour schedule?" I pressed on with the question, to satisfy my intrigue, but it appeared that I went a little too far.

Yuuki's eyes were dancing around, as she scratched her neck, nape, and hair with her hand. Even a kid could tell that she was being reluctant to speak. Perhaps I just hit a sore spot…

"…Can we talk about something else? I…I don't feel comfortable talking about it now." Finally, she looked at me with a tiny smile.

I knew she would say that. I decided not to press on. She and I just met, there's no need to know much about her.

Quickly, Yuuki decided to reverse the subject, "Let's talk about you then." to me. It was her turn to beam in curiosity. "I watched how you fight back there. Your sword techniques, and the way you swing your swords. It looked a bit like…"

She paused for a while, thinking.

"You mean kendo?" I asked her,

"Yeah, that's right. Argh, Tecchi told me about it before but I completely forgot the name!" and she confirmed it. Wow, she really didn't know about it. But I wasn't too surprised, considering she logged in all day long

"Well…" I tried to remember stuff. "I did practice kendo back in high school, and still practice it from time to time now at college, though I'm just an occasional practitioner. Most of that was improvised as I progress in the game."

"Ah, I see. Cool." She said. "You are still practicing it now?"

As she said that, my eyes were on the floor now. My eyelids were heavy, and I had to blink multiple times. I took a long moment there, and Yuuki almost had to repeat the question. But before so, I replied. "No." My voice felt like something was stuck in my throat. "I don't practice it anymore."

"Why not?" She asked, her brows seemed to frown.

"I have a few issues. With my own study schedule. And my own ability as a kendo practitioner myself."

The purple haired girl seemed to be even more confused. Crap. I realized the contrast of what I just said.

"I thought you…" Yuuki was about to say something but hesitated for long. She looked at me, deeply and then finally decided to stop. "Nevermind what I just said."

Now we were truly in an awkward silence. We just touched each other's sore spot, accidentally that now we were basically staring at the table and at the food we ordered. Several times, Yuuki tried to speak but seemed unable to find a good topic. As a result, we were completely still for…who knows how long.

I turned to look at Yuuki again. This was perhaps the first time that I actually spend a calm moment to observe her in details. Now that I see it for myself, she really looked a bit small and cute in a way. Petite would be the correct expression here. I remembered the moment when I shook her hand, that her hands seemed so fragile to me. Now that I looked at her closely, she looked even more so. I found myself drawn to this young woman, in a way that made me want to look deeper into her character, to understand this always cheerful girl, and how she managed to maintain that

'Snap out of it Hirano. That's not something of importance that deserves your concerns.'

Then what is?

'You seem to forget your current state now. The more you reach out to those around you, the more you are going to be hurt when you inevitably die."

That's right…

I had ALS.

That my body was slowly, painlessly, but cruelly refusing to comply with me. That I would inevitably unable to move, to talk, to be talked to, and then finally unable to breathe anymore.

'And even more, hurting for those who you connect to witness your departure.'

I clutched my forehead, feeling my fingernails digging into my skin as I closed my eyes. My chest was heavy, and my body seemed to lose strength. I know I really should stop all of this. It is detrimental, and would sooner or later take its toll on me, but I just couldn't stop.

"Hey." The girl in front of me said softly, putting her small hand near my food plate so that I could notice. "Are you alright?"

I stopped holding onto my head, but couldn't stop myself from giving a long sigh.

"I'm ok." I said, "It's nothing to worry about." I found it difficult to lie my way through. "I'm just a little off recently."

"Hmm." Yuuki made a hum, as she retreated. "Well, that was delicious!" Suddenly, she came back to the lively Yuuki I knew. She stood up, stretched her body and faced me.

"So, what do you think? How's today?"

How's today? Well, I did not accomplish my goal of getting the Obsidian Crusader at all. I actually threw that away. But in exchange I got a trip to Alne, somewhere I have already been to. The only thing that was completely new to me was the Tremble Shortcake, which was something that I would never dare to touch again. One financial alarm was way enough.

"I think it's…enlightening" I said with a smile and a sweat on my face.

It was fun with Yuuki around but please no more of this.

"Anyway, what's the time?" I said as I opened the menu and checked my IRL time. Thirteen to eleven. That's a little late for today. I should get off.

"I think I'll need to get off soon. I have an early morning class tomorrow."

"School on Saturday? Wow, you're a hard-working person." She complimented, but I simply clarified.

"In college and university, there is no fixed schedules. I just happen to sign up lectures during that time."

"Ooh." Yuuki nodded. "Well, I guess I'll see you later. Do you want to go to the cave tomorrow?"

Well, why not?

"Sure, I don't mind."

I didn't have any particular goal in mind at the moment, now that I just tossed the previous one away for Yuuki.

"Where shall we meet?" I asked.

"You know the Vanara waterfall right?" She said.

"Yeah. The one at the border?" I replied

"Yup! Just go there, and I'll find you. When will you be available?"

"Hmm…At most 3 PM. Can be sooner. Depends."

"Okay! It's settled then. 3 PM. Don't be late!" She reminded me with a smile. "Oh, do you mind…" She summoned the tabs and menu and made a few clicks. Immediately, a notification appeared in my own menu.

 **Friend Request (1)**

 **Yuuki**

 **Yes/No**

I took a quick glance at Yuuki, who was standing there, gazing at me somewhat expectantly. Then at the friend list that I have. Two friends. One's last online status: four days. The other five days.

Maybe it would not hurt to have one more. This one's online status at least would remain green constantly, that if I needed help, I could come to her.

I clicked yes. The name disappeared, and my friend list had another addition.

"Great! I guess I'll see you tomorrow?" Yuuki said as the trademark Imp wings grew from her back.

"Yeah, tomorrow" I replied. "See you then."

"Bye." She waved me goodbyes and flew away.

I raised my hand to my chest-level as goodbyes as well along with a small smile. For a while, I just stood there. The menu bar was still open as I stared at it. The number next to the friend list had been changed to three. And I stared at it for a bit. It was a strange feeling.

Then, I flew away. Ten minutes later, I was already back at my house, and I logged out.

Returning to the real world, the confinement began right away. My eyes shot open, as I realized I was in my room, the darkness seemed to consume me. I sat up, slowly, as my hands shook with every push. It took nearly five seconds for me to sit up straight. And another ten seconds to remove the visor from my eyes.

I turned to the bedside and stood up, but not without having to hang onto my study desk nearby for support. I reached out for my walking cane and proceeded to drag myself to the kitchen. I had a quick snack, then brushed my teeth and finally went back to my bed for some sleep.

* * *

The next morning, the sound of my six thirty alarm woke me up from my deep sleep. Slow and struggling, I made my way to the bathroom, had a quick bath, brushed my teeth, combed my neat dirt-brown hair, and then got dressed in my navy blue suit. The last part was now especially difficult. The feeling when you are barely strong enough to pull your shirt over your head to your torso was just…helpless.

I had a quick breakfast before heading out to my college. The sight of a young man with a walking stick and an odd, shaky and clumsy looking posture was hard to miss. It was fortunate that my apartment was right near my college, so it didn't take that long to get there. When I was still able-bodied, it would take probably fifteen minutes walking just to reach the doorstep of my classroom. But now that I have three legs, the timing doubled. Once I reach the part when I am on the wheels…I just don't want to think about it…

"Hello, Hirano-kun." Said one of the shop owner, Mrs. Sanae, in a friendly manner as she rolled up the door, ready for another day of sale. "I see you are still keeping up with the motto 'Everyday at school is a fun day'"

I forced a smile in return. "Yeah, haha. It gets a bit better in recent days."

Mrs. Sanae owned a bread shop along with her husband, which did pretty well, enough to survive and saves a solid amount of their original lifestyle. I was quite a common guest at her place, usually paying her shop a visit back in high school while less common but still visiting once I got to college, so I was on friendly terms with her. But looking at me right now, she was no different from an average stranger who knew what the hell was going on with me. And I was far from liking it.

"It must have been hard dear." She came close to me and held my shaking hand. "If you need anything, feel free to come to my place. I'll listen to you day and night."

"Thank you, Mrs. Sanae," I replied, my voice heavy, as I looked down. "If you would excuse me."

I knew she was being kind, but I just could not deal with it. I'm sick of it.

"Good luck, Hirano-kun." She waved me goodbye as I continued on my trip.

Minutes later, I arrived at my college. Immediately, I headed for my class.

"Hirano-kun!" Said a familiar female voice behind me as I was walking. I turned around to see another girl. She too was wearing a suit but was a lot lighter in color, along with a light tan-colored jacket that she carried on her arms. Making her way here, the wind caught her long orange hair flying.

"Hey, Satsuki." I gave her a two-finger salute and a smile as a friendly gesture. She strode right up to me, her school bag in front of her, and immediately matched my steps.

Satsuki Mihakawa was my first college friend. A potential nurse, we both met each other at the orientation party. It was purely a work of coincidences, with both of us ended up sharing a two-man table due to the sheer number of students attending the party. She was, as expected, a shy person so she had difficulties making friends. For me, I was late for the party due to a few issues. So we were set to sit with each other. I was pretty much the primary talker there, but she eventually opened up to me. I then realized she wasn't really a bad talker herself. She just had this hard-to-approach aura that distanced her from others, along with the fact that she did not know how to properly start a conversation. To me back then, those traits were not a handicap. And so we quickly became friends over the course of my stay here.

"So how's class? Not so well right?" She asked me as I nodded my head in disappointment. "It really does require a lot of physicalities to paint. So? What are your plans now?"

"I…" I gave a sigh. "…haven't really decided."

"What are the choices?" Satsuki frowned.

"There are many, but the most appealing are: Transferring my major and, therefore, university…Thinking of moving back closer to m for easier treatment."

"What major?"

"Maybe something more of a desk type of major. Like computer science." I said.

"I never knew you like computers." My friend raised her eyebrows a little.

"Mostly through my interactions with gaming and the recent VR MMO games anyway. Perhaps it is only just an interest, not a passion like this one." I replied.

"Really? I also played VR MMO games but I couldn't find interest anywhere with computers. Well, maybe it's just something that I play for fun only." Satsuki replied. If you knew anything about Satsuki, she was an anime lover and a gamer at heart. But she was nowhere near the level of a shut-in, which is I am at the moment, otaku. She took a lot of care for her own physicality and knew when to stop. So she could always maintain high academic scores while still able to maintain a low-stress happy life. Quite impressive really.

"What's the other options?" She continued.

"Try and claw my way to finishing this course," I said, unmotivated at the prospect. "I've already thrown the javelin. I may as well just follow it until the end."

"Well, that is if you can complete it before ALS kills your ability to paint." She added to which I very much agreed.

"I'll have to fivefold my effort for that," I said. Satsuki looked down a little, before giving me a pat on my back. Usually, it would've been harder and stronger, but she knew what had taken its toll on me.

"I'm not the one to decide but if I were you, I wouldn't recommend continuing your major myself, even though I'll be sad to see you leave." She said, her tone getting a lot heavier and a little stressed. "If you leave now, it might be the last time we'll see each other."

It may be unintentional, but it stings.

My teeth clenched tightly.

'The average life expectancy is three years.'

Those words resurfaced in my mind.

A long silence filled the air. Time around me seemed to stop…

Before me, the image of those four white walls came back to me. Illusions of mindless passers-by appeared. People too busy, or too pitying that didn't even bother to check up on me, or even give me a glance. The only person of importance was the one wearing that dreary white coat that I may have unfairly antagonized ever since. He spoke those words to me, like any computer program designed to perform only that specific task. Every word felt like a knife slash. It hurts

"Hirano-kun?"

And then he coldly joined the stream of passers-by, walking away from me. And then, there was nothing. Nothing but darkness to envelope me in my own despair…

"Hirano-kun."

I could hear Satsuki calling for me. Everything went back to normal soon enough, back to my college courtyard.

"I-I didn't mean to say that. I just…"

A little too late for that Satsuki…

Saying nothing back to her, I walked away. I am running late for my class...


	3. Chapter 3: Our Secret Cave

**Welcome to chapter 3 of this fic. So this chapter took longer to write than I had expected. The difficult part of this is trying to portray a significant amount of realism. I know SAO is an anime/manga/light novel and a lot of stuff that doesn't make any sense (Like how a widely popular VR game only has 10k players (Marketing failure)) but I don't want to make up stuff at my convenience. So I did a bit of research on ALS and also college art stuff. I don't expect my fic to be hyper-realistic though, and please don't expect that too.**

 **There has been a surge in popularity when I posted the second chapter, which made me very happy and encouraged to write more. If you have some time, please put down a review or two with your thoughts on the story, and how you think I can improve it. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy the chapter.**

 **Disclaimer: All original SAO content belong to their respective owners**

* * *

Chapter 3: Our Secret Cave

"Ah. Hirano-kun. You're here."

The professor addressed me, calling all attentions from the students body, as I shakily opened the door. At the expressions of the students, I can tell they are pretty surprised at my presence. And honestly, I am surprised at myself as well. This was a tutorial session, which was basically the time you put yourself in front of the canvas with your brush in your hand. To a person who struggled to put his shirts on himself, that seemed like an imaginary task, considering that job that require great details and precision.

"Am I late, professor?" I asked as I stumbled my cane into the room

"Practically no. We're just getting our feet warm. Have a seat."

I dragged my body to the nearest canvas. Each steps heavier than lasts. My hands gripped onto the canvas, as I tried to position my butt and legs so that it was right above the stool. Then, with a loud thud, I sat down, or rather fell on the stool butt first.

"Great." The professor said, as he clapped his hands together, seemingly in midst of his great speech when I came. "So I was just reminding you all what you all should already be expecting of yourself as you step into the realm of art. As you already know, to create a perfect work of art isn't about style. Of course, the style of a good work of art must appeal to the looker, but…"

And then was the talk of how art must have a message behind it that people would be unable to lift their gaze off of it. I get it. It must have some sort of charm to it. But if everybody knew how to solve that problem, life would be a lot easier.

After that, we were given something to draw. It was the usual bowl of fruit, a pear, a grapefruit, and a vine of grape. But this time, we were tasked to implement what he just said earlier in the lecture and make our own version of the fruit bowl. What we do was up to our creativity. Add a background, change the tone of the painting or even paint the fruit bowl entirely differently, anything to make the painting appeal to a common gallery goer.

Once the session started, everybody began paying attention on their own canvas. And so did I. For a few minutes, I stared at the bowl and began envisioning in my mind. Before me was a bowl of fruit. How can I change its realistic image? How to make something common into something original? I began to process the image, distorting it over and over again in my mind. It took probably five to seven minutes for that to be done.

Soon enough, after many forming and deforming, I had vaguely pictured what was the image that would appear on my canvas. Now comes the hard part: to actually put it into the canvas.

I picked up the pencil and began sketching the scene I envisioned. As my hands had weakened considerably, my fingers shaking as I held onto my pencil, I had to use my other hand to grip my wrist, keeping it steady. As a watercolor painter, I had to make sure the sketches were as light as possible, so that when I add the color on it, it would hide the pencil marks, or when I erase it, it would disappear without trace. And by light I meant barely even touching the canvas. And that required a really delicate hand, which I was trying my hardest to supplement.

Once the sketching was over, came the most gruesome part: coloring. The first and most detailed color would be the purplish hue of the grapes. It wasn't exactly purple. It was purple with a bit of red into it. The touch of red would have to be just right. Too much or too little and the color would change drastically. It had to be exact.

I picked up two tubes and began mixing it together. The palette was conveniently placed on a spire that was positioned right beside my right hand, so that I could adjust its angle according to what I need. It was all the teacher's effort to help me with my studies, and I was sort of grateful. But despite it, the fact that I was bogged down because of my degrading body was undeniable. The grip on my wrist tightened. I was very concerned about accidentally dropping too much on my palette, because it was a difficult task controlling my hand now. They would not comply to my command.

I somehow managed to not screw up with the mix. But then came the coloring. I dipped the brush into the color palette and made my first touch. It proved not as easy as it seemed. My grip must be maintained, or else my hand tremor would ruin the painting all over. The tip of the brush was slowly and carefully moved toward the canvas, with little shaking as it swept through a small small portion of the painting, leaving a elegant tint of purple on it. But once it was off, the shaking began, having been unnaturally restrained against its will.

"Fucking…"

I grabbed my finger of the brush hand with my other free hand. I know that I am cursing at myself, but it was frustrating. Once the tremor appeared to settle down, I went for it again. This time, the swipe would be a lot easier, since the area that I must color was larger. But this time, I got careless. The tremor suddenly erupted, and the paint on the brush was spilled on the canvas, where I did not want it to at all.

I almost break the brush in anger, but halted at the last moment. Nothing good would come out of my current emotions. I calmed myself down, breathing in and out a few times. It had happened so many times ever since, and the most frustrating part was that I was not capable of fixing it. There were no permanent solutions to this than gripping it. And it would only get worse from there.

I grabbed a piece of clothe and began cleaning up the spill I made. It went more than just rubbing it, but somehow I managed to wipe it away, with acceptable stains on it. It should be invisible once I add the intended color on it.

I went on like that for a few hours. Mid-way through, I could notice, one by one, my classmates filing out. They had already finished, but I didn't. Because of my goddamned shaky hand, I had to spend twice as long as those around me. Still, there were some who were nice that they gave me a pat or a few words of encouragement, seeing such difficulties I was going through. So it wasn't entirely that bad.

I managed to finish my piece of art long after everybody was gone. Surprisingly, the professor was patient enough to wait for me to get it done. Maybe it was his obligation to give everybody a feedback, and he did not take disability as a reason to leave it unfinished. In any cases, once I was done, he strolled over to me.

"Hmm…"

He looked at my work for a while. A brief description, I had turned the bowl of fruit into something more lively. Specifically a human face. The grape vine had been turned into hair, the grapefruit into the head, the pear into the nose. A slight touch of the brush polished the rest of the painting. With a quick glance, one could see the original bowl of fruit painting, but a closer look an the viewer would be able to recognize a human face in it.

The professor nodded, seemingly commending my creativity. But then his eyes seemed to slit into two needles. Covering his mouth with an index finger, he gave me his long awaited feedback

"Well, you do never fail to impress me with your artistic sense, despite several not so beautiful stains here and there, but I can always sympathize because of your current disease." That was what he said. "But I feel that you have forgotten the message of today's lecture. Because if there is really a message in your picture, I have yet to see them."

The comment shook me in realization.

"Uhh…"

What the hell was it that drove me to draw this painting in the first place? Was it because I want to tell him that plants are like human too, with different characteristics and traits. No that's too lame. What sort of noble message is that shit?

It was hard to admit, but I did not really have any idea of the message I was supposed to show him. And it was even harder to make up an excuse to get pass this one.

"I think I have forgotten your words about it…I'm sorry." I conceded.

"Well…" He exhaled. "You did manage to accomplish your work today. And with great determination. Therefore I'll give you a satisfactory result."

He headed for the notebook he had on his desk and wrote something, presumably my marks for this one.

"I understand that you are dealing with personal struggles, but please remember that you are a talented artist. And I mean it, wholeheartedly. Use it to its fullest, for however long you have left."

For what?

That was my immediate response. Of course, I did not say it out loud, since it would just be utterly rude. But yeah, for what? I had created many piece of arts but it remained to be just something cool to look at. Now that I only have approximately two years to live, can I possibly create something that could last for years and be elevated to a position in which it could inspire great things to the world? It would take a miracle for it to happen.

With that said, he closed the notebook and began to pack up. I followed his lead, packing my own stuff up, grabbed my walking cane, and left the room. The school day was over.

I glanced over the wall clock before I left. It was twelve fifty in the afternoon. I finished class pretty late, and I was starving. And I was in short of time. I had a schedule at 3 PM in ALO with Yuuki. So I was in a little hurry. I went down the college cafe, had a quick burger and cola, then I headed straight home.

I headed straight for my bedroom as soon as I got home. Picking up my Amusphere, my battered, confined body went into hibernation. And, for the next few hours, I am free.

I arrived at my own private house in Alfheim, deep in Sylph territory, in my white-haired lightning fast avatar. I did a brief check of my gear. Saber, check. Armor, check. Potions, check. I was ready to go.

Vanara waterfall was in sight in just ten minutes of flight. I had heard about the location before, but I had never been there personally. And from the eyes of someone who had been there for the first time ever, I had to scavenge to majestically describe the beauty of the fall it was. Water fell from a height that soared higher than any real life waterfall could reach. The volume of water was so huge that it was comparable to a great great wall of white that covered the entire border point. And when that massive body of water hit the deck, the bottom of the trip was covered in tiny drops of cold liquid that formed a big cloud of mist. It had caught me right at the heart of it, that I wished to capture that image in my drawings but unfortunately, there was not a drawing feature in this game.

I got close to the fall, the pressure and temperature began to send me away, turning me almost weightless. It was truly a magnificent, and very real, feeling. Honestly, whoever managed to create this world, he was truly a marvelous mind.

I stopped to remember what Yuuki said to me the day before. She told me to just come here and wait. She would find me. Has she even arrived yet?

"Oii…Hirano-san." Suddenly, someone called me from behind. Her voice was a little grumpy. "You're late."

I turned around several times, trying to figure out where the voice was coming from. It was very familiar.

Suddenly, Yuuki appeared right below me, from bottom up, right in front of my face. Really close. Shocked, I stumbled back, as she put her two hands on her hips.

"I told you not to be late." She rebuked me

"What? 5 minutes cannot be considered late. Nor in this situation." I countered, perceiving her tone to be genuine and serious.

"Not for me, who hates wasting a single minute in my life."

You are already wasting every minutes with that twenty-four hours login…

"I don't consider that as being a reasonable excuse to condemn me. But fine, I apologize for my tardiness." I sounded annoyed, in which Yuuki seemed to take that to her pleasure.

"Nah, I was just teasing you. You're too serious." That frown earlier all vanished as she grinned.

"I don't think I can joke or take jokes so openly with a girl I just meet the day before."

I mean I can make jokes fine but to someone like her. It's common sense, really.

"Then you know you can. I have no qualms about telling jokes to a stranger, yet alone you. Life would be a series of tragedy if it isn't funny." She replied, philosophically.

"Yeah sure," I said, unenthusiastic. "So where is this cave that you mentioned?"

"Over there." She pointed at the waterfall. In particular, somewhere in the middle. But I see nothing.

"You mean there is some sort of secret cave there?" I asked as she nodded confirmingly.

"Yup. Follow me and I'll show you the way." She told me and flew right at where I pointed. Or so.

"Now where exactly is it?" She scratched her head a bit as I neared the waterfall. Being the first time getting close to it, the scenic was breathtaking. I could feel those droplets dripping into my white-hair. The coolness of each felt so good.

"Ah, there it is!" Yuuki dove toward…something like a branch or wooden stick that protruded unnaturally out of the waterfall. Then, she charged straight towards the waterfall and disappeared.

"So that is the cave entrance. Hmm. Nice concealment."

I remembered vividly where Yuuki came through that entrance, so I flew straight into that spot as well. I passed through the great wall of water and before me was the cave that Yuuki told me. My first great impression of this place was that it was wet, humid and narrow. It made sense because the cave's entrance was the falling water, and the water would leak through the entrance and into the cave itself, creating a mini river stream. And it was so claustrophobic that for a man of my size, I had to bend down a little bit. Yuuki was significantly shorter, so she had no problem fitting in.

Seeing I have gotten in, Yuuki led me through the cave, following that mini river stream, which went steeply down for about a few dozen meters. The rocky rough and wet surface made me cautious upon walking. Soon, the stream ended suddenly at a hole leading down to presumably an extended part of the cave.

"Here it is. Down here. It is a pretty long hole, and it's quite high from the other side, so be sure to fly once you jump out of that hole." Yuuki said before jumping into it. The hole was quite large so it fits. I made it through the hole, activating my imaginary back muscles, spreading out four green Sylph wings as it magically slowed down my descent. It was weird how I did not even need to flap my wings to fly. I mean, my wings moved all the time, but for some ridiculous reasons, I did not have to move that much to sustain flight. In terms of realism, I'm pretty sure it didn't work that way. But in video games, who cares.

The inside cave was significantly larger than I thought it was. It felt more like a sanctuary instead. There was a huge gem in the center of the cave, shedding gentle and elegant blue lights for navigation. Water pouring from the top formed into yet another mini stream, magically running around the glowing gem and ran toward a small pond. But strange, I did not feel there are any sort of danger here. Was there any creature at all?

"Alright, so we're here," I said, as Yuuki looked distantly at the pond. "What's the thing that you said we can farm on?"

I paid attention to the gem instead, thinking it to be some sort of rare non-aggressive monster that we can kill repeatedly for the money, but no, Yuuki pointed at the pond instead, saying.

"There, in that pond. There are lots of fishes down there. Rare ones! You won't find them anywhere in Alfheim!"

I looked at the pond. "Really? That pond looked shallow I didn't think there would be any creatures down there."

"Na-ah. There's lots of creatures in fact. Lots of aggressive ones as well. The most notable being the Northern Piranhas, which could had a pretty solid selling price, despite the meat being utterly terrible, and a decent reward for each kills. And there's the Utmist Swordfish. Beautifully tasty, and can be used to craft swords."

"Hmm. Neat…"

Wait…

You don't say…

"Hold on, so you are suggesting that we are going to go fishing?"

"Yup!" She gave me a big grin.

Well…She did say that I need a lot of patience today. But out of all the possible scenario I imagined, this was not it.

"I don't have a fishing rod though," I said, to which Yuuki grinned again.

"Use your arm. Those piranhas love human flesh."

"I don't go here without medical insurance. So hand me your potions and I might, just might do that"

I started joking back to Yuuki, who laughed earnestly.

"I seriously can't counter that from you. Here." She said, opening her menu and dropped me a fishing rod. "It's my friend's, Siune, rod. I asked her permission yesterday, and she let me borrow it assuming that I return it to her unscathed."

I picked up the rod from her, thus assuming such responsibility.

"If you break it, I'll make you pay two times that rod," Yuuki stated as she gave me some baits as well. They were fresh raw meats and similar stuff.

"I'll remember, thanks."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Things went downhill for me a little quickly.

I was bored. By patience, I did think that I would have to spend long hours trying to slay weaker monsters, but it turned out to be just sitting there, wait for the fish to be extracted out of the water and kill it. It wasn't as common as I thought, but it was quite frequent. Still, it was not a task that I loved doing. I was not used to the life of an introvert. I was more of a fun-loving person, who wished only to do things that excited me or passionated me, so things like this quickly drained me of energies.

"So, Yuuki," I said, sitting right beside Yuuki, my rod resting on my thigh. "How do you figure this place out anyway? It is quite difficult to find that entrance under that heavy water curtain."

"Well…" Yuuki placed her hands on the back of her head as she leaned back against the rock. "I found this totally by accident. It was when my guild mates and I were testing our magic system. It was very early on in the game. One of my guild mate was knocked away into the waterfall. And coincidentally, he fell right where the cave was. And…"

"The rest is history?" I said. She nodded.

"Mhm. After our discovery, we decided to keep the information a secret to everyone. If they know, they're gonna flood this place." Yuuki continued, to which I gave a light smile.

"The tragedy of the commons…" I muttered.

"I'm sorry? What do you mean?" Yuuki asked, her head tilted a bit.

"Ah, it is an old economic problem." I explained. "It's basically the concept that a person would act for their own self-interests instead of for the common good. For example, the players here. If they know such a juicy place to farm their credits, they would flood this place. And once this place is flooded, other people would be afraid that they would not gain enough credits before all the fishes ran out, so they would push on and kill more fishes…"

"And in the end, everyone will depletes the area." Yuuki ended.

"Exactly," I said. "Well, I know that the game environment would naturally spawn the fishes back, but you get the point."

"Haha, I know. Well, it may have been my selfish desire from the very beginning anyway. I just didn't want this place to be filled with too many players."

I looked at the purple-haired girl, curiously. When she said that, her voice seemed to lower and distant. The cheerfulness was still there, but it did not feel like the time she tricked me into eating that cake. It was…something else.

"But you told me, didn't you?" I said.

"M-hm…" Yuuki nodded awkwardly. A blush came across her face. "I-I mean, you're fine, right?"

"I'm just an average guy though."

"No, I don't think so." She said as she looked at me deeply in the eyes. "You're more than an average guy."

"How so?" I asked, genuinely curious. I didn't have much individuality. At least not what I have shown in front of her.

"You're…dependable…I think."

That left me in an even more confused state. Me? Dependable? I was relying on you the whole time.

"In a way, I just have the intuitive feeling that having you side by side, I wouldn't have to worry about being stabbed in the back with a blade."

"So I'm trustful, you say?" I corrected her.

"Hmm. I would still say dependable since unlike some teammates, you are actually capable. You aren't as strong as I do, as I observe, but you are at least able to help me in certain situations, like the time I got stuck with those zombie's hands."

She smiled as she finished. "So right at that moment when you saved me from those zombies, I had already had my intention. To see you not as a temporary ally, but a friend. I want to be friends with you."

A friend, huh?

I exhaled heavily but not noticeably.

Friends…How was it such a familiar thing?

" _Amazing Hemera-kun! That gambit's complicated yet so effective. Do you mind if you and I play some more games? I wanna study those chess tactics you have."_

Oh yeah…

" _Hey, Ama-chan. We have to discuss the plans for our cultural festival."_

" _Oh crap, I almost forgot about it."_

" _That's fine that's fine! Let's go to the cafeteria for comfort. I'll buy you some lunch."_

I had been there.

" _Kohiruimaki-san."_

I had once been so.

" _Let's go enjoy the party!"_

I raised one of my knees, resting my arms on it.

I had once been in Yuuki's position: actively making friends, socializing and enjoying the company of others. I found great energy while being around others. I really do. That was probably the reason why I did manage to enjoy the day with Yuuki yesterday, despite my consciousness didn't really say so. And yet…

"Mhm. I guess I am."

After that day, everything I once knew and loved was thrown away by my own hands, replaced by not just a shadow persona that I never would have imagine myself becoming, but a persona that had stuck on for over a year. And to be honest, I am still scared. I am scared of dying. Of my loved one who will be left with sadness that I am gone. Of the disease. Of the feeling that my emotions would get confined in my deteriorating body, with no way that those I loved could know what it is. Being a human, what's the point of living if you cannot express your love, your joy, your anger at someone else?

"You are quite a company yourself." I smiled.

But in the end, I guess I still loved being with others. My former self was still tapping me on my shoulder. Despite the pain of losing someone you love is still a huge deal to bear, I guess having connections like this would still be a good thing.

"Hehe." Only to be countered with an even bigger smile from this young Imp.

I hope so…

"Hey, your rod is twitching."

Yuuki said to me, as something was making a tremor down that pond. Another piranha?

I was thinking probably another small-sized fish had taken the bait when all of a sudden, the rod was violently pulled away right before my eyes. In a split second, from a sitting position, I jumped at the rod, grabbing onto it just in time before it got pulled underwater. But then the crisis was yet to come. The force pulling rod was so powerful that it was pulling me down as well.

"Oh no no no! Crap!"

The rock was slippery, so I was slowly sliding into the pond.

"Hirano-san!"

All of a sudden, a pair of arm suddenly grabbed around my waist. Quickly, the slide decelerated. Then something touched my back. Something soft was pressed onto my armor.

My body jerked to know that. Despite not knowing what exactly was going on, my cheeks went hot. I tried to put that aside for now. I had to save myself out of this mess. What sort of fish is this?!

I was already in a standing position, thanks to Yuuki stabilizing me. I looked around my feet, searching for a dry and strong enough spot to plant my foot on, so that I did not slip and fell on my ass. All the while, I gripped my rod even tighter, and Yuuki's grip on me also tightened. Gradually, I managed to go from the position of being pulled to actually pulling this fish, or whatever creature was down there.

"Hey, Yuuki-kun. I don't think you mentioned this on the tour!" I cried out jokingly as I looked back at the young girl.

"I don't know either. Maybe a bonus!" She cried back, as we both giggled while straining our legs and arms like a rubber band.

"Ok, ok. I saw it now. In one go!" I yelled again once I saw the top of the creature popping out of the water. Holy crap. That thing is huge. Judging from the size of it, it may have been larger than both of us combined.

"One, two…" Yuuki gave us the cue,

"GO!" And off we go: pulling as hard as we can. The monster that we were doing our best to catch turned out to be a five meters long lobster, with five pairs of legs, the first pair being a huge sharp saw-like claw. On the forehead were two long antennas, dangling around. This monstrosity of a creature had just been pulled out of their lair forcefully. It's angry and dangerous.

Before me and Yuuki emerged: Amadan Homaridae. A long health bar also faded into the interface.

"Only one? This is gonna be easy." Yuuki chanted as she released me and unsheathed her newly obtained Obsidian Crusader. "Time to test this new blade."

"That claw's pretty deadly. We should avoid it. Cut off the other legs and he'll beg for our mercy." I said, releasing the rod, noticing how slim its legs are.

"Sounds like a plan." She gave me a thumbs-up as we both readied our weapons, raising it to our respective chest level.

"Go!" With a call, we both charged forward. Due to my incredibly high speed, I arrived there first. With my great momentum I built up, I slammed my blade horizontally into the second pair of legs. To my surprise, my blade only went halfway through the legs and got stuck in there. I tried to pull it out, but suddenly the lobster jerked its body violently, its claw moving around dangerously. I had to temporarily give up my saber and ducked. The claw swayed pass the position where my head was a second ago. Quickly, I ran to retrieve the blade, yanking it several times.

"The leg's stronger than I thought. I couldn't slice through his limbs!" I shouted out, dodging yet another jerk from the lobster.

"I can though!" Yuuki replied after slicing off cleanly the left leg of the lobster. "This blade is awesome!"

Seven hundred skill requirement for you.

"Ok, you take care of the limbs, I'll distract him!"

Without waiting for her response, I ran to the front of the lobster. Now waving and dancing in front of it wouldn't work, so I should attack it directly. Those two antennas looked like a juicy target.

With a slam of the claw, the lobster noticed my presence. I effectively dodged its slam and, before it could react, climbed onto one of the claw itself. From there I ran up to his head and slashed off one of its antennas. The lobster stood up furiously, throwing me slightly off-balance, seemingly very hurt from that attack. Though that did little to affect its HP, it appeared to be some sort of trigger that negatively affect this thing.

I could not reach to the other antenna since the lobster's skin was slippery and steep, I instead slid down the torso, landing right behind it. Yuuki had just finished cutting away half its walking limbs.

"It works! Great job Hirano-san!" She exclaimed.

"Keep it up!" I replied and sped back to the front. The pattern was pretty clear. The lobster would jerk when it did not see the enemy. It would slam or try to pinch its claws when it detects a hostile entity. I basically avoided all the pinch movements and waited for its slam. Once it did, I simply repeated the action: climbing up its claw to the head and sliced off the antenna. This would be its last one. And then I simply slid down the torso once the lobster stood up, though this time he could barely stand.

"Alright. Help me slice the other two on the other side!" Yuuki shouted as she ran to the said direction. The battle was pretty much over by this point. Yuuki had already amputated all of the legs on one side, leaving this lobster unable to stand properly, let alone move.

For the next couple of minutes, we simply sever the remaining legs and then casually hit off his vulnerable body. The end was only a matter of time. Whilst Yuuki, again, did most of the damage, I was the one who got the reward from it, due to being the person to drain the last ounce of HP from him. Or basically I got the last-hit reward, which is pretty unfair. Seriously. The person who did ninety-nine percent of the work got nothing while the lazy dude who did nothing and sit back to get carried got the reward. That's a bad game design there. I am pretty sure that it had happened before. But here, it was fine, due to the fact that we were friends. And we would definitely gonna split that reward or find a way to deal with it.

"Whoo. Now, what do we have here?" I looked the item menu. Due to this being more like a mini-boss, there weren't any congratulatory messages like the last one. The item obtained would be sent directly to the item menu.

"Hmm…" Yuuki peeked at me from the side curiously.

 **Amadan Homaridae's Meat (x30)**

 **Description: The king of all seafood. Tastes like a lobster: fatty, sweet and crunchy at the same time.**

Tastes like a lobster…It's a lobster monster for fuck's sake…

With a click of a button, the meat materialized in front of me. Since the thing was five meters in length, the meat was not the whole lobster, like how I usually buy from the supermarket, but rather many many parts of the lobster being chopped into pieces. Each was as large as a real life lobster itself. Just taking one out and I could already smell the deliciousness in it already. I had cooked lobster before. I knew how good it was through the looks of it. The toughness of the meat, the juice within. Hell, it was worth drooling over it.

"Whooaaa…"

And someone apparently did. Not literally though.

"Looks like we hit a jackpot today!"

Well we did. I can say pretty much for sure that these worth a hefty amount of Yrds here. Or a hefty number of stomach.

"We have thirty of them. What do you wanna do with it?" I turned around and asked.

"It's worth selling, but it looks too delicious to be sold." She replied. I am not surprised.

"I agree. However, it would take us probably fifteen meals to finish all of them off. And according to what I know, this kind of things have an expiration date."

This is not what I wanted for realism RECT.

"Hmm…" Yuuki pondered for a while. "Ah. How about we hold a party?"

"With who? Your guild mates?" I asked

"Yup. The Sleeping Knights is our name. We have six members at the moment, including me, but some of the guys have a huge appetite, so we'll quickly deal with all of these." She replied, beaming cheerfully. "Also, this may be a good opportunity to introduce you to my friends. Hirano-san, do you have a guild at the moment?"

"Not really. No."

"Then would you like to join us? The Sleeping Knights?"

The proposal wasn't entirely unexpected, but it did give me a hard think. I was fine with being friends with this young girl, but her whole clan too? I was a little unprepared for such a thing. Should I go for it?

'You do realize this is the life you have chosen for yourself, don't you? Why are you turning back on it now?'

Yeah. But my old self was tapping me again on the shoulder. He was encouraging me to do that. For that small little connection that I desired for myself. For my life energy that I had left.

"Well, yeah. It seems kind of fun."

I did choose that life. But I could change it to however I like it. To however I need it.

"Great! There will be tons of fun ahead of us. And I'm glad you'll be joining us as well!" Yuuki excitedly stated, as she opened her menu and sent me a guild invite. I pressed accept invitation, and suddenly my menu had another addition: the guild bar. So I just joined a clan? Well, that was quick. Mentally quick.

The confirmation was transferred back to Yuuki, who gave perhaps one of the most beautiful and energetic smiles I had ever seen as she extended her hand for a shake.

"Hehe. You're one of us now. On behalf of Sleeping Knights, I warmly welcome you into the guild."

"Thanks," I said, a little awkward with the formality, but still returned the shake nonetheless. "So when do you want to host this party?"

"When the iron is still hot. This evening." She replied, still holding my hand.

"Hold on! You mean right now?"

"Yup! I have already messaged the others! Now come on, let's get out of here!"

"Wah!"

Just as she finished that, her purple Imp wings suddenly grew from her back. All of a sudden, she lifted me up into the air, flying away from the pond, back over to the glowing gem towards the hole we came on in hours ago.

And so I had become a guild member. Of a guild that looked very much like a normal friends gather-up place to a stranger like me. I didn't know at first, but eventually it all naturally reveal: the lives of these guildmates and mine.

* * *

 **There is a small but interesting detail in terms of Hirano's background that I have put in the chapter. I hope you can spot it.**


	4. Chapter 4: Reflection of Self

**Ok I'm gonna be honest with you guys, I don't really like this chapter that much. I've had problems fleshing Hirano's attitude toward his ALS. That sometimes I think I make him deny connecting to people a little too much, but if I let him come to the realization too soon, I would just be rushing the story. So please bear with me on this and future chapter. I'm not a professional writer and do not intend to make money on it. But I will try and improve on my story-telling for better quality of this story.**

 **Great thanks to Dima Mahontsev for your interest in this story and your effort in translating this story into Russian. Translation is underway and will be available on for Russian readers.**

 **So I hope you enjoy. If any of the good writers end up interested in this story, or just reading through it, if you have time, please leave me a feedback on what's good and what should be improved. That would help me a lot. And thank you.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own SAO**

* * *

Chapter 4: Reflection of Self

And so we headed to a small, cozy house at a neutral rural area for all races, where I was informed that the Sleeping Knights usually use it for a gathering spot. When I arrived, everyone was already there, sitting at a wooden round table, all eagerly looking at my direction with a smile on their faces. It made me a little nervous, but I was familiar to being greeted by groups of people, especially strangers, already so it didn't concern me that much. I regained my composure and got ready to greet them.

"Hirano-san! Let me introduce you to our clan." Yuuki was almost yelling at me in excitement as she pulled me into the room in front of everyone. "The Sleeping Knights."

"Good evening guys. I'm Hirano. It's a pleasure to meet you all." I said, waving to the six members, including Yuuki. Sometimes it was a little awkward trying to introduce myself for the first time in front of a group, but my extrovertedness seemed natural, as once I got down to doing it, the words just seemed to flow like a stream.

"Yo. The name's Nori. It's a pleasure to meet ya." The girl sitting on the far end, next to a red haired guy and a green haired guy with glasses, replied, giving me a friendly smile.

"My name is Tecchi." There was a tall, burly Gnome guy sitting the closest to me. He turned around and offered me a handshake. "Nice to meet you."

"A pleasure to be your ally from now on." I returned the handshake with formality. I was a little astonished at how big this guy's hand was comparing to mine. It was as if he could crush my hand if he wanted to. But he seemed like a very peaceful giant to me. His smile assured that.

The girl sitting right next to Tecchi, a long light-haired older lady also offered me a handshake. "Nice to meet you Hirano-san. I'm Siune." She said.

"I'm Jun. Nice to meet you, Hirano-san." The red haired guy said.

"I'm Talken. N-Nice to meet you." And so did the other member of the group.

I waved greetings to those two as well. I sighed relief inwardly. The whole guild didn't seem to have any problem with me joining the clan so suddenly. I honestly didn't know how strong these people are, but a normal guild usually would have ran a check over the skill level before admission. The guild size appeared to be small comparing to other guilds. Maybe this really was a friend guild, made up of people who knew each other in real life or via a certain medium. But in any cases, I was glad that they were so friendly and welcome to me.

"And finally." Yuuki, who was probably the most excited and energetic of the entire group. "Yuuki. Guild leader! I'm glad to have you in my guild!"

"I'll be in your care." I replied, smiling in return. "Is this it? All the members?"

"Yeah. It's a little small I know. But it's one of the most high-skilled guild out there in existence!" Yuuki said, puffing her chest in pride.

"And the richest? Don't lie to me." I said as I stared at her mischievously. "You cannot hide that fact when you told me you guys own that whole cave to yourself.

"Ara. Yuuki-san, did you tell him about it?" Siune asked, seemingly unaware.

"Aha…" The purple-haired girl scratched her head yet again. It seemed like every time she got exposed, she would try and use that laugh and that face to get away with it. I wouldn't be surprised given that attitude. But still, she looked cute when she did so.

"It's true that. In terms of individual welfare, we are pretty well-off comparing to a normal guild member." She said. "We were not concerned with the goal of reaching the top of the world tree, or becoming the Alf."

"Yeah. We're just a group of gamers who just want to have fun." Jun came into the conversation, to which the rest of the group nodded.

"That's nice." I said. "I rarely see a group of multi-race being together so nicely."

"We all met each other via an online game community a few years ago. So you can say that we're bests of friends." Siune said smiling. "We're just here to make some memories together."

That's nice. I wasn't a clan kind of player before, so I had never actually actively searched for a clan before. But I did receive a couple of recruitment from various Sylph clan before, with all the same purpose: to join and help defeating the other races and become the Alf. And now that one of the game creator's associates had been accused of some controversy that had not been announced publicly, but inside sources told the players that it was a mind-controlled test, with subjects kidnapped from SAO. It is a very serious case, and now the game's purpose was being redesigned, since the top of Yggdrasil tree had been said to contain nothing, and that Alf were a non-existent race, which disappointed many of the players. Despite many quitting the game, there were still a majority number of players who were still committed to the game, or were too committed to leave now. I was probably the latter, but it doesn't matter.

"Anyway! Now that Hirano-san is already here, let's get this party started!" Yuuki cheered, punching her fist in the air.

"Hurrah!" Followed by the entire group.

And I was officially blessed as the seventh member of Sleeping Knights. My new guild…To tell the truth, it wasn't as bad as I thought. I actually enjoyed it

* * *

"So we're gonna divide our work now. We need quite some people to deal with the lobster meat. The others just prepare the drinks." Yuuki stated. "Anyone know how to cook?"

On that note, it is actually interesting that the cooking stat in SAO did not survive the transfer to ALO. It was too redundant and honestly not worth putting skill points into it, so RECT decided to remove it from the game. As a result, cooking in ALO acted very similarly to real life, with each individual's skill being equivalent to their IRL cooking skill.

The only person who raised their hand to the question…was the one asking the question. It appeared that she was the only one among the entire group who knew how to cook. How the hell did that happen though? I didn't think that a girl who had a twenty-four login session would know how to cook, and the rest of the group, who were probably more normal than her, didn't know how. The paradox is real…

"Anyone? Come on, don't let me do this by myself again." She pouted, looking around at the group, who were hopelessly chuckling or scratching their cheeks. And it seemed like this was not the first time this happened.

Dejected, Yuuki's attention turned to me, the new guy. And then she smiled, proceeding to stare at me expectantly like a puppy. It was hard to resist such a face.

"Ok I do." I admitted. I didn't acknowledge myself to be an outstanding cook whatsoever, but I did know how to cook. Living on my own was not easy. I didn't have the money to eat out every single day, so I had to learn how to survive on my own. Not to survive starvation, but to live life healthily, with enough substances and vitamins. So it wasn't just a few dishes, I actually knew quite a lot. Including lobsters like this one.

"You do? That's so nice! Alright, then you and I will be doing the hard work. Jun-san, do you mind helping me in the kitchen?" She said brightly

"Sure. I would be willing to." The Salamander smiled.

"Great. I'll leave the rest to you guys. Come on Hirano-san." Yuuki then led me into the kitchen.

The kitchen was rather small comparing to the house, probably only ten square meters in size. Having three of us here was a little cramped. But the nice thing was it overlooked the garden, with trees, grass and flowers capturing the beauty of nature in just a one square meter frame.

"Ok, so what do you suggest we do with the lobster meat?" I said as I put a huge lobster part, the back, on the cabinet.

"Hmm…I would make it boil it fresh and put it with corn and potatoes…maybe? I don't really know. I haven't cooked seafood before. You know how, Hirano-san?" Yuuki replied.

I placed my finger on my chin, pondering a bit. For this many people, I would have to make more than one dish, in case they don't like one, they can enjoy the other. Yuuki's dish wasn't exactly a bad idea. It was simple and, to be honest, a little bland, but the combination didn't necessarily create a bad taste.

"I think your dish is fine to make. If you can, you are free to make it. We have plenty of meat to spare." I said. "For me, I had quite a few recipes in my mind. I wonder if we have enough ingredients for that."

"Well, that is up to the chef." Yuuki quipped, recognizing me as the chef of this feast. "The ingredients are in the cooking category, in the guild item."

Hmm. Neat. Every guild had a storage shared among all members, and they could manipulate that storage to however they wanted, like a hard drive in a computer. I opened the storage to see it being basically a virtual restaurant. Pretty much everything was there. Olive oil, mayonnaise, flour and pepper. There were a few very specific ingredients that were not here, but I could make do.

'Let's see…'

Repeatedly swiping the screen, I simultaneously materialized all necessary ingredients in front of me. Bacon, butter, garlic, olive oil, cheese, pepper, pasta, vegetables, and spices. All set.

"Alright." I cracked my knuckles. "Let's get this done."

* * *

"Sorry for the wait!"

It took me over an hour to prepare the various dishes that I had in mind. But all those minutes were worth it. The moments cutting those onions, grinding the garlic into pieces, pouring the olive oil into the pan and watching it boil in the heat was just beautiful and elegant in its execution. The same thing could be said when it comes to painting a fine painting. The art of adjustment and creating things.

No one knew where that passion came to me. Perhaps the fire had always been burning since I opened my eyes to this world. Or perhaps it was passed on to me, through a channel that I did not have any conscious memories of. But that fire of beauty, the beauty of creating beautiful things, within me had formulated my ambition to become an artist. You could arguably said I could have become a cook as well, but the fact that all food are temporary while arts are permanent pushed me to the former profession. But I still loved both activities, and I learned both in time. I may have not been the smartest kid in the class due to that, but I did not care at the time. I was learning and doing what I liked. And I was seriously considering my future with it…when it all came crashing down onto me.

"It smells good!" Nori stated as three of us presented the group with the dishes. Five in total, with over half of it were my own creations.

We simultaneously placed it down on the table, in front of the hungry patrons, letting them feast on the food with their eyes first.

"Wow, it really makes me drool over here." Talken commented.

"I know right? I had been fighting against my own hunger the whole time I was in there." Jun said turning his eyes to me and Yuuki.

"So...what are we waiting for? Let's dig in!" As expected, Yuuki was the leading voice for such activities.

"Itadakimasu!"

And the dinner began.

For your information, our dinner's main ingredient was obviously the S-class lobster meat. We turned six, out of all thirty, meat item into food item, dividing it all, but not necessarily equally into five dishes. The first, the appetizer, was the salad. Simple combinations with vegetables and mayonnaise. The second dish was the tail part, cooked with zucchinis, corns and cherry tomatoes, all fried up with onions and various herbs. The third dish, which was Yuuki's, was very simple, with boiled corns, potatoes and lobster meat. The fourth, also Yuuki's, was the lobster soup. And the fifth, my most proudly presented dish, was the brown butter bacon pasta lobster. It took me half the time in total to make that dish, but the smell could rock a person to his core. Ok maybe that was an exaggeration, but the taste itself was good by my standard. I just hope that others did too.

"Hmm!"

The first reaction came from Nori, after having spoonful of the salad.

"I never knew lobster went so well with salad!"

"Well, if you've been to some restaurants, they offer things like raw fish or shrimp with salad as appetizer." I said, taking her reaction positively.

"Really?…I guess I should spend some time outside as well."

That statement was somewhat stimulating.

"Hmm. I concur. It is really good." Tecchi complimented, on both the salad and the lobster, as he had already finished the salad. That was staggeringly fast.

The others nodded in agreement, which made me kind of happy. I mean who wouldn't, if something he himself created was appreciated.

"Here. Try this one." The group leader, Yuuki, said to Siune, pointing at one of her dishes, the lobster soup

"Hmm…Yeah the lobster's great…though the soup itself is a little…" She hesitated in thoughts.

"Salty?" Yuuki asked, frowning a little.

"...No. It's a little conflicting. I mean it doesn't really fit with the ginger you put it there. But still, I enjoy it. You're a good cook as always Yuuki-san." She reviewed, in a way I would say pretty nicely and softly.

"Hehehe…" She smiled brightly, which looked really cute to me.

I had a bowl of the soup as well and reviewed it too. And yeah, comparing mine to Siune's, it was pretty similar. The ginger did not go well with the lobster in the flavor it created for the soup. But I did not announce the review anyway, to not take away that smile off her face. The soup was overall good for my standard, and quite impressive for a girl her age to make.

And then was the last dish, served for last. I was a little uncertain when it was being served, but when the food reached the tongue, all worries disappeared.

"Soooo gooddd!" Yuuki exclaimed, clutching her cheek.

Jun and Talken both had their eyes widened as they chew on the bite, nodding to each other.

"This is probably the best thing I have ever tasted in my life." Siune said, making me a little embarrassed.

"Who's the chef of this dish?" Tecchi asked with a satisfying smile on his face.

All eyes turned to the two of us, me and Yuuki. At first they were split between the two of us, but when Yuuki turned to look at me, it was all too clear.

"Hirano-san. You made this?" Despite so, Siune asked for confirmation.

"Yeah I did." I was a little embarrassed to admit openly, but just laughed it away.

"Are you a chef in real life or something? This is so good I could compare it to a five star restaurant!" She exclaimed. Ok this time this really was an overstatement.

"No no!" I laughed as I raised my hand in denial. "I'm no chef. All of this are from online recipes I collected for myself and sometimes for my friends."

"Comparing to what I have eaten in the cafeteria where I live, this is seriously better. I think I can eat this all day." Jun added his own reviews too.

The cafeteria where he lived? That's interesting…I haven't heard about a residential area with a private cafeteria before.

"I may have fallen in love." Yuuki suddenly exclaimed as she had her seconds. The unexpected out of the blue comment made my cheek go hot. I looked away quickly and awkwardly. Was that…

"With the food I mean!" She quickly corrected herself, seemingly having noticed her own misleading statement herself. Hopefully so. I did act a little weirdly back there.

But anyway, I was really glad that my plate ended up being so appreciated. I didn't really expect them to actually praise me that much. I did collect from some of the food journalist to add some spices to my daily life, but they were mostly home-cooked, mostly for myself, for my standard. I wouldn't dare to compare it to any restaurants, especially not a five star.

"Jun-san." I called. "You said about the cafeteria in your place. That's pretty convenient. Where do you live anyway?"

I mean he could be living in a university dorm, with their own private cafeteria, but I couldn't help asking it. It would be a great thing to actually live in a place with a private cafeteria. I wouldn't have to worry about cooking everyday. And now, with my current condition, I think it would be an important thing later.

The seemingly simple question suddenly brought an awkward silence to the room. I was genuinely surprised and confused. The person in question was hesitating as he struggled to answer. The others, instead of looking at Jun, was looking away, each in their respective direction. Did I hit a sore spot again?

"Ok ok. You don't have to answer me if you don't want to." I said, raising my tone, trying to lift the mood. But it didn't work that much. For a few minutes, the silence persisted. It really was awkward, in an excruciating way. This had happened before with Yuuki yesterday, and now it was on a different level. I was a little concerned about what they would feel about me afterward.

"A-Anyway!" Siune thankfully broke the silence, as she turned her attention to me. "So you cook for yourself? Do you live alone?"

"Yeah." I nodded, trying to be bright. "I'm currently a college student in Hokkaido. I currently live in an apartment by myself."

"Hokkaido? Wow. I didn't expect." Yuuki joined in. "We're all from Tokyo."

"It must have been nice. I've been thinking of going there sometimes, but I couldn't find the right time for it."

"Yeah, it is." The response were rather short and unenthusiastic. "You are in college?...How old are you?"

"I'm nineteen."

"Oh my. You are the same age as me." Siune exclaimed, to my surprise as well. She looked so dignified and mature I didn't think she and I would be born in the same year.

"You're four years older than me?" Yuuki looked at me closely, in disbelief. "Hah. I guess a lot of people abuses the quote 'Don't judge a person through his Net appearance'"

"Hey. I didn't abuse anything!" I retaliated

"Your avatar is your own creation you know." She smirked mischievously.

"Alright. At least I did not do things like cross-dressing or things like that."

"Who knows if you actually do it. Voices in ALO can be randomized if the player wants to. Maybe you are actually a female in real life."

Alright I'm getting a little pissed here.

"But how about you then? How can I believe you to be a female in real life?" I tried countering her, who was still standing strong with a grin on her face.

"Unlike you, I have been observed by my pals here to be a female." She replied

"But how do I know that? Have any of you guys ever see her in real life?"

None of the people in the room had any reactions of some sort.

"See? I can use the same argument against you like you how used it against me. I'll just ask you one question. If online avatar can easily be faked, how can you prove to me effectively that you are actually who you are in real life?"

"You're an idiot." She said. Simple, with only one line of pure roast.

That was honestly so senseless that it was actually funny.

"Ok that's quite reassuring. Quite." I conceded, emphasizing on the word.

I can't really argue with women, can I?

I was still looking at the cheerful energy ball in the form of a fifteen years old girl. She gave me a V sign, yet again, with her fingers, signaling her victory. It gave me a strange feeling. Even though I lost that argument, in which I shouldn't have, I didn't feel too bad. The lightheartedness, the silliness of such an illogical argument. It actually made me giggle in earnest. A giggle of pure amusement and joy, with no burden, no worries, just pure entertainment. And they didn't say that laughing is contagious for nothing. Soon, Yuuki's grin got bigger, as she giggled with me in sync, only to be followed by the others softly. We shared the moment in complete and pure joy, and to me, I could feel my distance between me, Yuuki and the whole group growing smaller and smaller with every seconds like this.

After the meal, we were treated cola as refreshment. For the next few hours, we talked about ALO stuff, about how the group tested the targeting algorithm at the World Tree, seeing that the guardians focused less on healers and more on the attackers, just for the pure fun and pleasure. Also about how a guy - back to the cross-dressing topic - actually cross-dressed here in ALO, got mistaken for a girl then ended up in a weird situation, and ultimately getting slapped in the face hard. And more. Among those silly stories were more of those lighthearted moments of amusement. Something I haven't enjoyed in a while.

I didn't realize it right there, but I was really beginning to enjoy life again. Not for the big things ahead of me, but for the plain, simple and average junks we have in front of us everyday that we didn't often pay attention to. And to be honest, sometimes things like that were more valuable than the higher and more luxurious thing we desired. It may not help in the long run, but sometimes it did, in a way unimaginable.

"Oh I haven't shown you guys." Yuuki excitedly offered her new sword on the table for viewing. "Tada! The rare event only one-handed Obsidian Crusader."

"Whoa!" Jun gasped. "Sugoi Yuuki-san! I didn't expect that you can get that by yourself!"

"Actually I didn't get it by myself. Hirano-san here helped me." She clarified herself, recognizing my contribution.

"Nice! You both beat that boss by yourselves! That's an amazing accomplishment to say the least!"

"Aha…" She scratched her head, just like the first time I met her.

"Well, we technically memorized all the pattern and moves of the boss, and perhaps thanks to Yuuki being perhaps an utterly strong swordswoman that we won."

"Aw. Don't flatter me." She blushed at my statement.

"I'm pretty sure my statement is not meant for flattering." I replied.

"But considering you helped her to victory, I genuinely believe that you are a really capable fighter, Hirano-san. How long have you been playing this game for?"

"Ever since the game was released. Which is…just a bit over a year."

"Wow. You are one of the Old Guards." Jun exclaimed

"Uhh, I'm sorry?" I asked, kind of confused over the term. Old Guard? I remember it was a Napoleonic Unit in an old game I have played, but what does it mean here?

"Ah, it means that you are the players from the very beginning that's all. " Talken explained. "Though have you played any other VR games before this one?"

I placed my hand on my chin. "I remember playing a game called Warship Simulator. Basically about a group of hundreds of players being assigned to a warship, like a destroyer, cruiser, battleship or submarine, and we all cooperate to make the ship function and battle ready. There are missions for us to play as part of the team."

"Heeehh! That's so cool!" Yuuki excitedly uttered. "So how did it go for you?"

"It was horrible." I facepalmed, burying my forehead in my hand. "Well the game concept is cool. Bravo to the developers. But they forget the fact that strangers pulled together from different walks of life with randomized role do not work well together. I remember a noob being assigned to a captain's role on a battleship, and you know what he did? He charged the ship forward so we get deleted by an enemy destroyer with ten torpedo tubes. I mean, there are some experienced and really good players in there, but honestly…"

"Haha! I get ya there." Jun said sympathetically, patting on my back.

"Before that, I signed up for a short test for SAO during its beta testing period at the local game center. It is one of the company's effort in public's advertisement. Thank God I didn't turn up for the real game."

"Wow, you are one lucky son of a gun." Nori exclaimed. "Still, you didn't have that many experience in online RPG games and yet ended up being quite a good player in ALO, to be honest, is quite impressive."

"Thanks…"

It wasn't that impressive…I did spend over ten hours in this game everyday anyway. It was impressive from an outsider's perspective, but what good would it do for me? It didn't help cure my disease, or help me accomplish anything in real life. It was just helping me living in the world that I thought I was free from all the real world physicality and killing my time, the time that I thought was worthless for me now.

I saw Yuuki looking at me for a bit, then suddenly stood up, went to my side and stood facing the other members.

"So…I guess our party concludes here. Now that this dungeon had been cleared, what's next for us?" She said.

"Hmm…nothing really…" Tecchi said as he opened the information menu, searching over the game's official website. "The game is said to be updating the week after next week, so no new dungeons are to be made."

Yeah I did hear of that. It was said that it would be the hugest update ever, since ALO would be transferring moderation, and the game developers would remake a lot of stuff. Details are bound to be released the week after.

"Hmmm…" Yuuki said, frowning. "Well, I guess it'll be a daily grind for next week I guess."

The rest of the group simply nodded, biting their lips in dispirit. There's nothing that could be done though. It was the developer's decision and schedule.

"Then I guess I should get going. I'm being summoned." Siune said.

"I think I should be going too. It's kind of late, and I need to do a few things." Talken also said.

Seeing two of the group members are already obliged to leave, Yuuki saw no reason to keep this group together for the night.

"Ok! See ya later. Goodnight!" She waved goodbyes not only to the two group members, who logged out right after, but also to the others, who were still here.

"Goodnight Yuuki-san." Jun said as he also followed the two of them.

"Goodnight guys." Nori waved, her avatar dissolving and fading away.

"Goodbye." Tecchi also left

With all the members gone, the inn was quiet again. It was seven thirty eight in the evening. The sun was finally entering the horizon, halfway in. The once peaceful blue sky was now scorched in a mesmerizing red and purple, decorated gently with a little white bits of steams. The timeless sun shone with all its beauty, its elegance but not with all its might onto the world below. It shone through the tiny windows of the inn, and onto us. It was, in this man's opinion, one of the most beautiful and realistic thing to be recreated in a VR world. Sometimes, upon looking at it, the boundary between the real and virtual world seemed to blur. It was something that was once considered unimaginable, and perhaps scary sometimes.

"Hirano-san." Yuuki suddenly called out to me, as I was busy observing the sunset.

"Yeah? What's up."

"How do you feel?" She asked as she leaned forward tilting her head to look at me. "About the Sleeping Knights."

"It's a modest yet fun guild. I would say." I smiled, looking at her. "For some reasons…" Then at the sunset. "I feel a bit at ease here…I don't know. It's a strange feeling I can't really explain right now."

"Well, not many people had the chance to join Sleeping Knights." She laughed lightly at my awkward response, as she brushed her hair a bit.

"But there's something about the guild that bothers me somehow." I continued. "About-"

"The question you asked? Yeah I know…" Yuuki said, deciphering exactly what I was about to say. "Do you mind sitting down a bit?"

"Sure." I said as I sat on the chair, in front of the table that we used to party just hours ago. Yuuki sat right next to me, putting her two hands on her lap.

"These people…are special. As I said, I met them in an online community. And because of how similar they are to me in that specialty, I quickly became friends with them."

"How similar?"

The question I asked left her in silence. She was still smiling, a light smile, but it wasn't the cheerful smile I knew. Her hands were still tight on her laps. Her eyes wore sadness, staring down at the ground below. I could barely hear her breathe anymore. Before the setting sun, her choice of color were in coincidental resemblance to the color of the sky preparing to rest after the day, her fragility seemed to be even more apparent than ever.

In that moment, there were reflections. From Yuuki and to me. It was not merely a reflection of light, of her beauty into my eyes. It was the reflection of self. For that one moment, I saw not just a pretty fifteen years old girl who was always excited but contained a hidden depth within her character. I saw myself too. For that one moment, I was there, in front of me. There were something buried deep within that layer of energy that she struggled to bring it to the light. And it wasn't something ordinarily embarrassing. I could not guess what it was, but it would be a shameful thing or maybe something that an ordinary people could not process well. My intuition was ticking. There was no evidence, but I could feel it there…

And wasn't that the same as me?

I'm no different. I too had my disease to hide. I wasn't afraid of discrimination or pity from my friends and families. I did hate people who pitied me, basically seeing me as nothing more than a handicapped man who could never have accomplished his life goals and had to rely on other people to live. But those were the minorities in which I just wouldn't care. It was the feeling that I would put on the other majorities that halted me. I was enormously privileged to be surrounded with people who like me, and who love me. But what I put on these people were a very sorrowful feeling. The feeling that in just a few years from now on, I would be gone. And I would never be coming back again. I would never be back to go for another chess match, another camping trip or another journey through the virtual world. I hated hurting people. This is not a battle. This is going to be a very heavy defeat. Not just for me but for everybody around me. And that feeling of hopelessness was just too heavy a burden that I didn't want anybody else to bear it with me.

A moment passed, but Yuuki was still silent. Before that reflection of self, I really wanted to tell Yuuki that she didn't need to say it if she didn't want to, but I didn't proceed with it. I wanted to see how she would proceed with it. Or rather how I would proceed with it. Would she openly talk about what she struggled to say? Or would she deny to talk about it? I wanted to hear. I wanted a direction.

"I'm sorry…"

Her voice finally took off. Pale and silent, she said. My heart sank at the few words uttered.

"I'm not ready for it yet…"

I knew she would say that.

I sighed heavily. It was a hard thing after all. Maybe I should just-

"But I guess I can't hide it forever."

Huh?

"After all, it was my decision to bring you into this guild after all. But I need some time."

Her words were followed with a light smile, yet again. Damn, I didn't think there is anything I could do to remove that smile from her face. I probably wouldn't want anyone to do that too.

But in the end, it came down to time. About getting ready. Or perhaps about observing if it is worth the revelation. I couldn't say I am eager for it, but I honestly was looking forward to it. Partly for the information, but mostly because I wanted to see myself again. I somewhat saw it. Not at the time, but my subconsciousness had seen it. In her eyes, I saw it. That behind the Sleeping Knights, behind Jun, Talken, Nori, Tecchi, Siune, and, most importantly, Yuuki, lied the soul that I had abandoned.

"Will you wait until then?"

I placed a hand on Yuuki's shoulder. As gently as possible, I gave her my response.

"I will…Don't take too long okay?"

Yuuki turned to me, smiling weakly, but earnestly.

"Hmm!"

It was a journey to find myself again.

* * *

 **Although there are lighthearted and silly scenes in the background, the relationship portrayed in this story will be quite serious. Just saying for you to look forward to it in a different way.**

 **Sidenote: I knew that Sleeping Knights are a group of high-level players, so I was forced to flesh out his strength being high as well. Please sympathize with me on that. I don't intend to make the focus of this story on that.**


	5. Chapter 5: The Expanding Universe

**Hello guys.**

 **I am sorry for the late update. College work and other stuff in life had hit me in the face in the last couple weeks, so I had to put chapter 5 on hold for a while. But I'm back for now, and hopefully the next few weeks will be a lot better for me. I thank you all to those who may be waiting for the update on this one, and I sincerely apologize.**

 **Anyway, enjoy the chapter and I really hope that, if you have some time, please leave a few words about this story. Is it bad, good? And please remain constructive if you do so. I'd be very happy even if it was a good criticism.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own SAO. All original SAO properties should go to their respective owners**

* * *

Chapter 5: The Expanding Universe

April 1, 2025

I woke up at the usual hour, six-thirty in the morning. Again, the usual routine: getting up, taking a shower, getting dressed and head for college. But as I grab my walking cane, I noticed something. My legs were shaking. Hard. It shouldn't have been that way. It was just the beginning of the day. Or maybe that was it. I thought it was just morning, and my muscles were still weakened from the hours my body spent hibernating while I was in ALO. As a result, I tried to ignore it.

Upon getting dressed, I noticed my phone buzzing. The ringtone indicated a message for me. I picked it up and saw who is the sender.

Satsuki…

Unlocking the phone, I went straight to the message section.

"Hirano-kun. You are alright, right?"

I sighed a bit.

"I really apologize for what I said the other day. I was not thinking very clearly and was very inconsiderate."

Yeah, you did.

Even though what she said was entirely the truth, I just could not stomach those things. It was simply…bad. I really didn't get it. Human emotions are a very complicated thing. In times like this, voicing the bitter truth would only serve to drown that person in despair. Telling lies and you would drown that person in an even worse manner. So how and what can you tell that person now?

"And I want to make it up to you."

Hmm…

"You only have morning class today, don't you? So do I. Meet me at the front gate at 12 PM."

The message ended there.

I found myself staring at the phone's screen for a while. To be honest, I was really upset about what she said the other day. I agreed with her. It was very insensitive there, even if her motives are good. But that was the thing. I met Satsuki not very long ago, but from the very first day, I already knew she was not a good talker. She could not start a conversation well, and her choice of words aren't good. But nevertheless, I managed to be friends with her. And not the ordinary socializing friends that I usually do. Although I do not know that much about Satsuki, there were reasons why I kept coming back and hanging out with her. I didn't just make friends for the sake of it. I like interacting with people, but I did not just accept anybody and everybody.

And so…

* * *

"Hirano-kun!"

I went for it.

"I'm sorry for letting you wait."

She rushed to the gate, to my side. Gosh, she looked different today. Still wearing her college suits, but her long orange hair was tied into two nice braids, hanging by her shoulders. On her face was…a pair of glasses? I didn't know she wears glasses.

"No, you aren't late by any means." I looked at my watch. "Nice glasses by the way."

Satsuki realized something. She quickly took off the glass, pull it down and put it away in her school bag, in a hurried manner.

"Didn't know you wear glasses." I commented.

"I-I'm near-sighted. Not much though." She replied, a little hesitantly. "I look dumb right?"

"I think you're alright. What you said, it's just stereotyping." I responded earnestly. "So, what's up that you want to meet me here?"

Satsuki searched through her bag and took out an Amusphere.

"I want to buy a new game." She said.

My curiosity was piqued. "What game do want to buy?"

She looked down hesitantly before answering.

"Alfheim Online."

My eyes widened in surprise. I didn't know Satsuki was into this kind of thing.

"You have a good taste." I said, half-serious.

"S-Shut up…" She replied, her cheeks going a little red. Now that really made me question her reasons why she wanted this game. I know the girl loved anime and gaming, but her genre was a lot more modern, not a fantasy one. I really wondered what pushed her to this one.

"I just wanted a change of pace." She said.

Really…?

"Anyway. Do you want to accompany me to the store or what?"

"Well, of course." I replied. "Which shop do you want to go?"

"Which did you use to buy yours?" She asked back

"I did not go anywhere. I ordered it online. But if you mean any electronic shops, there is one near my place that sells stuff for a pretty cheap price."

"Isn't that nice?" She smiled a bit.

"Well, they are used items anyway, that's why they are so cheap. But still." I gestured her to go first with my hand, the one that did not have to grip on the walking cane.

Despite all the gentlemanly acts, it was Satsuki who was walking behind me, her strides matching my sluggish and savage pace. Again, the symptoms this morning was coming back to haunt me again. My steps were dead heavy. And my hands were growing strained, veins began to pop up as I pressed my cane harder onto the ground. Step by step, my footings went erratic. My last step had the foot landed near sideways. The other had the stride too short. My supporting cane was also in a dance of itself. Until…

"Hirano-kun. Are you alright?"

I stopped.

Changing the grip of my cane into my left hand, I had to lean onto the side of a building to rest. My chest was beating against my hand like a pump. The air through my lungs was so immense that I had to breathe repeatedly, my mouth gaping wide. Sweats formed on my temple, as a clear sign of fatigue. The fatigue that shouldn't have been…

It shouldn't be this way…

How could it be that I grew tired in such a short time? I only walked for like fifteen minutes, and I was panting like I just completed a whole marathon. It didn't make sense. My VR diving sessions, even though a little extensive, couldn't have had that much of an effect.

"If you need help I can-"

I raised my hand in rejection.

"I'm fine. I'm just a little fatigued from the tutorial.." I reassured her but failed. Furrows began to form on Satsuki's brows. Her eyes were glassy, and her lips were tight.

But she did not say or do anything. Anything but patiently wait for me to recover. Perhaps she was afraid that she would hurt my feelings again.

"All better now." I brightened a bit and began walking normally again, with my walking cane in front. She was still worried I bet, but it should relieve somewhat at least a bit.

* * *

Later…

"Wow, I expect the disk to be a lot more expensive, but it turned out pretty affordable."

"I can live pretty ok, but I'm not a wealthy guy." I replied.

"I'm honestly a little curious." Satsuki asked. "Do you work while you are in college?"

I looked up at her.

"Yeah, but it's more for the experience than to earn to survive another day." I said, remembering. "I used to be a cook in a restaurant."

"Nice. You should be able to cook really well huh?"

"Yeah." I chuckled a bit, remembering the reactions of the Sleeping Knights the other day. "It's a useful skill for lives like this, so it's best to train them early."

"Your parent help you with your rent or something?"

"Yeah, they gave me just enough. If I want to earn more, I'll have to work."

"Considering someone who is in the art industry, I find it kind of rare." She said. "I have to go through a lot of yellings and shoutings with my parent to convince them to let me take nursing. They want me to take engineering instead."

"I wonder though." I said, looking at her curiously. "What makes you want to be a nurse?"

She brushed her braid a bit.

"I want to help sick people. Especially the terminally ill." She said, looking distantly. "You see, my grandfather, who lived until he is seventy-six, passed away of cancer. I was ten when he did. He mentioned that he enjoys the nurse who treated him. That they not only help him with the medications and the other weary cancer treatment procedure but also help him with the battle in his mind."

"He described that his final months are perhaps the best in his entire life. That he was given good food, a nice book to read, warm, cozy beds. But especially, he said, he was given a company, a nurse. She helped to talk all his frustrations out. She was there every time he was depressed about his disease. She was present to be someone my granddad can talk to when my parent was not there. She was pretty, kind and patient, he said. And I thought…how wonderful would that be if I can be someone like her? To help these people's mind at ease…if it is just for a little bit."

She looked up as she is finally done. I was a little away there when she explained. I didn't think her reasons for joining such an industry was that...virtuous. I know people complain a lot about nursing, and usually, people don't think too much when they pick their own profession. They just think of what interest them, and either pursue it till the end, even if it doesn't turn out to be their passion or drop out and find something else. But she. She appeared to be beyond that.

"Uhh…did I say something wrong?" She blushed a little.

I noticed that I had been looking at her for quite a while. Turning away immediately, but still retaining my composure, I replied.

"No, you're not wrong. I like it. It's a decent purpose."

Now it was her turn to turn away.

"Anyway. Shall we give it a try? You play it, don't you?" She said without looking.

"Yeah, I do." I replied.

"I'll see you in about thirty to forty minutes. I'll go back to my place and set things up."

"You know." I pointed my finger in the direction of home. "You can actually use my place. It's near."

"I-Is it…" Satsuki covered her lips with her palm, as she turned away, even more, the back of her head facing me. "Is it alright for me to come to your house?" Her voice timidly squeaked

"...I don't see why not? Unless you're uncomfortable with it."

But then, she suddenly turned three hundred sixty facing me.

"No no. I'm not! I-I'm ok with going."

I was a little taken aback by the response. But seriously, I didn't really get it.

I simply gave my gesture to go.

* * *

Stumbling through the door to my apartment, I was sweating just as hard as the last time. But finally, I arrived at my house safely as I reached my hand shakily for the light switch.

"So here we are. My little cozy home. Not bad for an artist don't you think?"

She giggled a bit, as she gently took off her shoes and stepped into my apartment. She had a look around. It was a one-man apartment. From the door, you could pretty much see the whole view of the room. A few steps into the room and you have the desk, filled with stacks of paperwork and utilities. Deep into the room was my bed. Behind the desk would be a long comfortable blue sofa, which was already present by the time I rent this place but was found of little use to me. There is now though.

"There's an electrical socket right there. You can use it to plug your Amusphere in." I said, pointing at the sofa nearby, thereby indirectly suggesting that she uses the sofa. "Or maybe I can use it."

"No no. I'll use the sofa. I'm, after all, intruding your house." She politely denied my suggestion.

"Ok sure. I guess you know the procedure." I said as I put my school bag on the side of the bed and sat comfortably on my bed. With my hand, I reached out for my Amusphere, which already had ALO already placed in the disk drive. Then, I suddenly realized…that my arm could barely lift over my shoulders anymore.

Like how? How had it come to this?

I defiantly tried to press on, but my hand tremored back, defying the orders from my brain. Seeing no other choice, I bent my back forward, trying to lower my head so that I could get the Amusphere through. It was nearly in, possibly only an inch away. A little bit more. A little bit more…

"There we go." Someone's hands were placed over the Amusphere, pushing it down through my forehead.

I looked up to see my friend who just finished strapping her Amusphere around her head, and rushed over to help with mine.

"Thank you…" I quietly expressed my thanks, as Satsuki looked at me kindly and headed over to the sofa.

Because of Satsuki helping me, I did not pay too much attention to what was happening. But that sign earlier…wasn't as simple as my body messing around with me

"Ready?" She asked me as she sat down on my sofa, looking over at me.

"Yeah." I tried, but incompletely, to give her a thumbs-up as she lied on her back on the sofa, ready to dive into the world of virtual reality.

"Link start." And with that familiar command, we simultaneously submerged, overwhelmed by the force of the microwave signal.

* * *

Once I was in, I quickly realized my mistake.

"Oh no no."

I completely forgot the fact that she is entirely new to the game. I didn't know her in-game name, and she would definitely not know the way around, and she would be spawned in the map at the capital of each race. Whichever she chose would be unknown to me, at least until I found her.

Goddamn it…

Putting rationality into use, I should just speed back to the Sylph territory and pray that she chose the Sylph instead. Something in which I did, for the next few minutes, but ended up not as I expected. She was not a Sylph.

"Oh God, now what do I do?"

I was messing with my hair as I thought of it. She could be anywhere in this large world. And without a specific location to look for, it was just as bad as finding a needle in the haystack.

Should I just log out instead and wake her up? It would take time, considering how weak my body had been. Maybe she would not be too far around here. And considering she is a new player, and new here meant completely new, chances are that the first thing she would attempt would be the in-game flight system. If she flew high enough, I would be able to see her somewhere in the sky. Please, just don't be anywhere far. I only had ten minutes of flight time to find her.

And so I did. I went up into the air, as high as I could. The moon tonight was almost surreal, as large and beautiful as anyone could have imagined. Her light paved my way to navigate through the night.

My first destination would be the Cait Sith's capital, the most easily accessible place for a Sylph like me. While I did not have complete access, I should be able to get into the suburb rural area for free.

It took me fifteen minutes in total to fly there from my area, forcing me to take a break midway, adding five more minutes to the journey. Once there, still have five minutes left of flight time, I sped across the area, trying to look for Satsuki.

To whom I could not find. Though near the end of my flight time, I discovered something even more astonishing than me finding Satsuki amongst thousands of players stretching over thousands of miles.

"Hirano-san!"

Yuuki?!

I was hanging my mouth wide at the sight.

What the hell is she doing in Cait Sith's territory?!

Flying along with her is another Cait Sith, wearing a fully-clothed greenish Sylph-looking hoodie. Once she got close, I realized that underneath those hoodies were short golden hair along with a pair of cat ears, the trademark for a Cait Sith player. She also seemed to take the theme a little too seriously, with whiskers decorated on her face.

"What are you doing here?" She beamed at me as she descended next to me

"I think it is more appropriate to ask you that. Why are you here in the first place?"

"Ahaha," Yuuki laughed. "I was just here with Argo to learn some information about the game's destiny. Usually, it is a trade deal, but this time, she'd give it for free. Oh, I almost forgot, this is Argo. Argo, this is Hirano, my friend."

"A pleasure to meet you." She extended her hand, in which I took it.

"So what did you find?" I asked as she smiled in joy.

"That the game will become more of a sandbox RPG game." Argo answered it for her. "I heard that they will remove the Alf race and the overall goal of the game would simply be having fun as well as striving to become one the most powerful players in the game."

"W-Wow. That's so nice." I commented.

"Oh. I bet you'd love this. We will all be granted unlimited flight time."

Holy Jesus…

So my jet-fighting tactic is finally going to work after all…

"That's great!" I exclaimed. "Though, do we have to start the game all over again?"

"Well, no. Practically. It's a transfer, so you can keep all the stats and gears you have collected."

"Sweet. So what do you think the developer has in store for us in the future anyway?" I asked.

"That, you can read more on the information tab in your menu. But news indicates that…"

Argo whispered the information to both of us.

"Wait, hold on. So you're saying they're bringing in Aincrad now?" I said in surprise.

"Yeah, I'm not kidding. They're bringing back that castle now. They'll open the first few floors of the thing for players to beat."

That can be a really good or a really bad idea.

"Nice. A whole lot of exciting adventures awaits! Would you like to join us, Argo?"

"Sorry…" She politely declined. "It brings a lot of bad memories."

Is she a former SAO player or something? If she was, I wouldn't be surprised at all.

"Aww. That's too bad. Well, I can't change your decision." Yuuki said, before turning to me ecstatically. "Now that we're done with my Q&A, it's time for your Q&A, Hirano-san. What brings you to this place dead in the night?"

"Well, I am looking for a friend of mine." I answered. "She just started the game, and we, unfortunately, lost contact with each other."

"Do you know her name?" Argo asked.

I scratched my head embarrassingly. "No, I do not. Her in-game name I mean. I did not know her intended race too."

"Well…" Argo palmed her forehead. "This is a tough case brought upon yourself…"

I had no rights to refuse such criticism. I should have been more informative before entering the game as a guide.

"So how do you intend to deal with it?" Yuuki asked as I shook my head.

"I guess that she would be trying sooner or later to test the flight system. So I might catch her flying around the capital."

"Do you know her usual playstyle in other games?"

"Hmm…" I pondered. "I remember her saying she played GGO as a battle medic of her clan."

"A support I see." Yuuki said. "Then I guess the Undine territory should be your destination."

"Where is it though?" I said as I opened the map. "Oh…" and my mood plummeted

"Yeah, I sympathize with you here." Yuuki said both jokingly and kindly.

It's on the other side of the map.

I pressed on the map to check the estimated flight time. 40 minutes is the answer, considering the two stops midway and that my wings were fully ready for the flight the first route. It did not consider the fact that I might just run into a bunch of raiders on the way, or I may have to take a long route because of some unanticipated events.

"Long night for me now." I tried to shake that off with a joke to both of them.

"Well, I can fly with you." Yuuki proposed. "If that's alright?"

"Are you sure, Yuuki-kun?" I asked. "I mean it's my problem anyway."

"I know, but I also don't have anything to do at the moment…Please?" She tilted her head, looking at me like a puppy, cute but demanding.

That move is just irresistible.

"Ok sure." I answered, to which she grinned widely. "It's gonna take quite a while though."

I couldn't wait for this update to come.

"Not to worry!" She declared as she took out a snow-white colored potion.

"Oh, you have the wing empowerment potion?" I said, gladly. That thing wasn't too common out there these days.

"Yeah. Help reset your wing's flight duration immediately. I have a few of these, but it's gonna be deleted soon, so better use it while we still can."

"Nice."

Having her as a company is a good thing after all.

"Anyway, you guys have fun." Argo said as she waved. "I'll log out for the day."

"See ya Argo!" Both Yuuki and I waved as she left the area, presumably to a safe location to log out.

* * *

A moment later, we arrived at the World Tree, the mark that we had reached halfway of our journey.

"Alright, my wings are pretty worn out now." I said, and Yuuki kindly tossed me the potion. I opened the lid and gulped it all in one go. All of a sudden, my wings twitched gently. It was a subtle sign showing that my wings were fully recharged and could continue to sustain flight.

"Boy I look forward to this next update. This reduced flight time is really annoying." Yuuki commented as she gulped her own potion.

"I couldn't agree more…" I rolled my eyes. "Say, I really can't believe they brought back Aincrad."

"Are you excited?" She smiled

"Well, kind of…" I shrugged my shoulder. "I was just skeptical. Why would they want to bring back a world where a lot of people died tragically? I mean, it can bring bad memories to the former SAO player."

"It's true that." Yuuki pondered. Like Argo there, who is probably ninety-nine percent a former SAO player, or maybe someone who had lost her friend or family in that game, some people wouldn't want to come back there. The worst thing in life ever was not the trauma, but to relive that trauma again.

"Though the freedom is still with the players I guess." Yuuki said.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean the choice whether to explore Aincrad or not is the choice of the players. If you find it not something to be exposed to again, you can choose not to go. Besides, I really feel that the developers are making it for us instead."

I looked at her curiously.

"I mean I never know how Aincrad looks like. I have never been there, and hell, I wouldn't be mad enough to think that I would dive into that game to find out. So sometimes I wonder what world were the people living in there. Was it a nice place or no? I'm honestly excited to know what they have been through…"

And smiled.

"...And learn to value life a little better."

"I guess so…" I said. "Do you want to explore it together then? When it opens."

"That's a good idea!" She suddenly but excitedly replied. "When's the day of the update again?"

"April 4. I remember so. They start maintenance the night before, so we can log on at around 9 AM."

"Great!" She beamed. "Do you have college then?"

"That's Thursday, right? Yeah, I do. But only until 3. And I'll be free from then."

"Ok, 3 o' clock then. And we'll journey together. Deal?" She asked me.

"Deal." I responded, smiling brightly.

* * *

"Alright, we're near the Undine territory now." I said. "If your prediction is correct-"

"AAAHHHH!"

A scream so loud I thought it was right next to me shot through my ears.

"What the hell is that?"

I was looking around when suddenly

THUD!

I was accelerated into the air.

SLAM!

And then into the ground…

"Jesus Christ, Hirano-san!" I could hear Yuuki yelling from behind as I faceplanted on the ground. If this was the real life, my nose would have been broken.

"Urgghhhh…" I lifted my face up, away from the muddy ground, one indication that I am in the Undine's territory now.

"Hirano-sa-…Pfftt." As I turned around, Yuuki suddenly and quickly covered her mouth. Crow feet began to form in her eyes as she desperately tried to hold back her laughter. In which she failed spectacularly, and the amusement went to the extreme

"Hahahahaha! Hirano-san. Take out the mirror and look at yourself!"

A little odd why she would laugh so much, I took out that free inventory item in my menu and…

"You know what you look like at the moment…a…a dog!"

Holy fuck…how the hell…

I looked back at where my face had been seconds ago and found out that the upper part of my face had met with a crab, who tragically died as a result, leaving a piece of crab meat. For me, the upper half of my face, along with the outer part of my cheeks was protected by the crab. But my nose, mouth didn't, and the mud splat onto the area. The result is needless to say…

"That crab deserves to die." I growled as I wiped the mud off my face. By this time, Yuuki had finished her laughter but was still trying to restrain herself.

"Oh my god, I almost died there." She said, having recovered.

"You're welcome…" I replied. "But who…"

I realized what was happening…

"Satsuki?"

Right next to me was a beautiful girl with bright and mesmerizing violet eyes, her light teal hair tied into two braids hanging on her shoulders. The girl sported a gentle light blue dress, paired with a couple of armor on her chest, here and there. The clothing pretty much shouted out that she was a beginner. And that braid, that looks, as I matched the two faces together, no doubt.

"Hirano-kun?" She seemed to be doing the same, as my ALO avatar looked a little different.

"Oh thank God. I don't have to log out." I said jokingly.

"Shut up." She rebuked me. "That's your fault for not mentioning at least a single meeting location."

"You didn't remember to as well, so it's both our fault. You can't complain." I countered. "Anyway, I'm glad we found you. I would never have thought we would have found you so easily."

"See, I told you that you would find her in the Undine." Yuuki puffingly said.

"And I did not tell you that you were wrong." I replied, lowering my tone. "Anyway, yeah, she did assist me in finding you. This is Yuuki, my friend."

"Ah, good to meet you." Yuuki said before extending her hand to Satsuki.

"Y-Yeah, it's a pleasure to meet you too. And thank you for helping my friend here. I'm Florence."

Florence?

Was that her in-game name?

"Welcome to ALO!" Yuuki grinned as Satsuki, or Florence in this world, shared a handshake. They both shared a smile with each other, with Florence appearing a little hesitant but eventually and fastly warming up to Yuuki. They seemed pretty compatible to one another.

"Wait." Florence said, glancing at both of us. "You two are…"

"I'm an Imp." Yuuki said, knowing what she was asking. "You can recognize me via the trademark purple clothing and wings." She spun around and materialized her transparently purplish wings.

"I'm a Sylph." I continued after Yuuki. "It's characterized by the grass green wings…" I too showed her my wings. "Though I am a little edgy so as to change my hair color and clothing to be a little different. Most Sylphs are lighter in greens."

"I noticed…" Florence said, nodding her head. She must have been through the character selection anyway, so she should have gotten grasp a bit on it. "If I have to admit, I'll say that the game has a lot of interesting content and mechanic. Especially the fighting system. At least I won't start a newbie."

"You know how to fight here already?" I asked.

"Well, no. But you know that I fought in GGO right?" She replied.

"Those are two different games." I stated. "One is about shooting, and this one is mostly close quarter fighting."

"Who says I need to fight close." She said before taking out a short arched bow, drawing it with her bare hand.

"Ok…but archer classes aren't really a strong class. People have been complaining about the class being unloved comparing to the second most important class in the game: the mage."

Technically, there wasn't any class system, but people just made it up for easy definition. In anyways, the reason why archers are so weak in this game is that there just wasn't enough in-game items for them. Skills were not essentially an issue, because the player base could basically do and make use of everything possible to make that class playable. But because of the lack of good items for this class. A brief glance at the item list was pretty clear. The rumored best weapon in the game, the Excalibur, is a sword. The second most powerful weapon in this game: The Demonic Sword Gram, is, well obviously from that title, a sword. This pattern was followed until the tenth or so item, which was the Staff of Whirlwind. However, this item was a mage weapon. If I remembered correctly, and that the list hadn't been updated, the most powerful bow out there was listed the fifty-fifth. And who knows if the guy getting this weapon was actually using it, or was just putting it in his collection.

"Don't worry, I've learned a few spells and the basics of spell casting already. I can combine both to make my attack more effective." She said.

"That's…"

That's actually not a bad idea. Infusing magic into the arrow. Sure, I was pretty certain that I am not the first to come up with this idea, or even the first to test it out. But I hadn't.

"Still, you learned to magic that quickly? I'm impressed."

"I actually received help from a fellow Undine. She also just played for a while, but she mastered flying so quickly I just couldn't help but admire."

"Anyway, for playstyle, it is your choice. I'll support that." I finished as I extended to her my hand, helping her up.

"But before that," Florence said as soon as she got on her feet. "I'd need to master how to fly first. Do you…" She looked at us hesitantly, her voice growing a little weak.

"...mind helping? Sure!" Yuuki finished her sentence with a radiant smile and a hearty approval. "By the time we're finished, you're going to soar in the sky like a true fairy." She said before holding Florence's hand and pulled her along. Just like how she did to me with the cave.

This girl surely was as trusting as she was naive.

A smile came its way on my lips. Tonight's gonna be a long night after all…


	6. Chapter 6: The Duel of Amity

**Hello everyone. I know this chapter is even later than the last. I honestly don't know how often I can post chapters anymore, but hopefully, I will not have to abandon this fic. But part of the chapter's heavy delay is also because this is more of a filler chapter. It's pretty mediocre in my standard, if not bad. But this is where the small minor details are dropped and sprinkled out to make up of something else later, so it contributes a lot to the writer's block of me. I seriously don't know what exactly to write for this one, so I figure to have something more exciting for everybody to read instead of the usual stuff.**

 **If this story gets through to the end, I may consider rewriting this from another perspective. To make it more in-depth due to the limitations of using first-person to write.**

 **Thank you to those who showed support for this story. It really motivated me to sit down and continue writing this story. I hope you enjoy and if you have some free time, please leave a review to make the story better. I read them all really.**

* * *

Chapter 6: The Duel of Amity

"Ok, first things first. You probably know the assisting controller right?" I said to Satsuki, who returned me a firm nod. "Ok, I guess she should go first with that before we move onto the non-assistant flight."

"Sure, that works for me." Yuuki shrugged her shoulder.

"You got that thing out?" I need not finish it as she already did. "Ok, before you do anything. And I mean ANYTHING, you should do this step first. Go to your Settings, go into Controller and scroll for the Flight section."

"Ok…" She complied as she opened her menus. "Controller…Flig..ht…Ah, here it is."

"Lower your sensitivity down to fifty. So you won't be jerking off so easily."

"I flew at eighty though." Yuuki came into the conversation.

"You serious? How do you manage to do that?" I turned to her, my eyes were as big as a ball. Yuuki then looked at me in a way like I just stated that the Sun rises from the West or something ridiculous like that.

"What I really wonder is how you manage not to accomplish such a thing. You are an artist, aren't you? I thought small details are your expertise."

"Those are two different things you know." I countered

"Same physicality." She then re-countered

"Those are back muscles, not hand muscles. Again. Two different things." I re-recountered.

This went on a moment. It was a stark reminder that he should never try to get into an argument with someone like Yuuki. It is when all logic and reasoning were thrown completely into the dust bin. I just don't know her mentality anymore. She is a complete mystery.

"G-Guys." The one who broke us back into it was Florence. "I'm still here you know."

"Oh sorry sorry!" Yuuki turned back to her, waving her hands apologizingly. You'd think she would be a little mad after that, or at least not paying care to it much. But to my surprise, Satsuki simply gave both of us a smile. A smile so elegant and kind it confused me.

"How close are you two anyway?" Satsuki covered her lips, giggling inaudibly as she remarked.

I jerked a little on the inside. Never would I expect such implications to come out of someone like her. Perhaps I was a little stereotypical here and there. Satsuki wasn't entirely shy. She is an introverted person. An average person normally use those words interchangably, so the difference were a little obscure to notice. She was, after all, able to maintain a good conversation once someone got her going.

"W-We're friends," Yuuki replied, stuttered a little bit. She may be on the same boat as me. "But anyway, we should get back on track. I think it depends on each individual players. You ought to choose a random number first, then adjust it to your liking."

"I guess I'll go with Hirano-kun's setting," Florence said as she seemed to be scrolling over the menu. "Alright, what next?"

"Uhh." I was trying to remember the day I was in Florence's shoes. I spent a few days messing with the controller to fly, but after that, I learned how to fly without it with a particular Sylph who was some sort of beta tester or something, but she definitely knew how to fly better than most at the time, who was still trying to comprehend the game system.

"Do you see the scroll on top of the controller?" Yuuki asked her, as I was scratching my head over the matter.

"Yeah," Florence replied shortly

"Scroll it up as quickly as possible." Yuuki continued, the tone was somewhat weird. "It's gonna launch you up as much as you scroll."

Wait wait wait…

My memory is probably trolling me right now, but I clearly did not remember having to scroll up three hundred knots just to fly in the-

"AHHHHHHHHHH!"

air…

You're kidding me…

By the time I looked over to Yuuki, my dear friend Satsuki had probably reached the moon by now. Judging simply by that annoying grin on her face, she actually is kidding me. The playfulness simply had no end.

"Alright, you're fired. I'm not making you my co-trainer anymore." I said before flying up, with the small glimpse of somehow finding Florence somewhere in the dark abyss of the night sky. Even now I still haven't added her as an in-game friend. How fucking stupid…

* * *

Once I got Yuuki out of the picture, leaving her to sulk in the corner, the lesson went relatively well. The girl learned the basics pretty fast, although she was still a little hesitant with her movements; I think she is a lot faster than me when I was doing it.

"Alright, now that you've mastered the basic, I figure you can continue onto the non-control flight now," I said as I flew right to her as she was hovering mid-air, holding onto the controller tightly.

"Uhh…I don't know Hirano-kun." She was still shaking a little while she was holding her controller. "Maybe I should take it easy for the day."

"Nah, you're fine. I was in a worse state than you when I was doing it. And here I am, flying like a bird."

"Because you have an entire year to finish your feeble flying skill." Someone replied to me, choking with sarcasm. It wasn't Florence - she was right in front of me. Through simple arithmetic, we have the only offender in the room, or in this case the sky.

"Again what is wrong with me flying at fifty sensitivity?" I growled, turning to face Yuuki, who was just done with the sulking, now proceeded to annoy me.

"For a speedster like you, that's pretty pathetic." She mocked me in turn, bending her back forward, her eyes seemed to laser on my face, carving I suck balls in this game. And it burns. A lot.

That's it, I've had enough.

"Ok, now that's just harassment." I returned her the favor. "You think you're so skilled, don't you?"

"I'm the best at what I do." Yuuki confidently stated, shrugging her two shoulders. "Now I know that look." then continued to peer into me as if she was reading a white board in front of her. "You want to duel, don't you? Well…"

The purple haired girl chuckled playfully before unsheathing her Obsidian Cruiser and shrugged her two hands, with the sword held firmly in her hands. "I always welcome a challenge. Especially after you chicken away the last time."

"Oh, I'll be." I was one step away from popping my vein and die of internal bleeding, as I removed the rope holding my saber on my waist. I held my blade by the half mark, at the scabbard and hovered right at Yuuki's level. She just has to get under my skin for satisfaction, doesn't she?

"Uhh, guys. Guys." Amidst the rivalry, the only voice of objection was Florence. Poor her. Kept being tossed to the sidewalk in midst of our quarrels. But looks like I was a little too heated for her now. I gotta have at that purplish haired for this once.

"If you need a break Florence-san. Go ahead. It's just us fooling around a bit." Yuuki briefly told Florence, giving her a thumbs-up before grinning widely. All too familiar Yuuki.

Conceding to us two goofballs, Florence flew backward, getting out of our way. Or at least try to. The entire sky now is the battle arena. Now it all came down to our own self-awareness not to move to her location and strike her down. With that done, each of us was standing by, ready to swing our blades at each other at any time. That said, I never actually know how powerful Yuuki is. All premisses were from rumors and reputation of those of familiarity. An overstatement could be difficult to miss. Now it is a good opportunity to witness: how she spent her twenty-four-hour session in this game.

Both of us didn't even need the dueling system. The free for all mechanic of this game already supports our childish need to settle our scores like a bunch of Neanderthals. Death in this game is not at all a threat. The only thing that may actually deter both of us from this battle would be the long journey flight from our territory to this place, again. But I couldn't just bail out in that fashion; if I did I would be hanging my head low for an eternity. Better yet I'd jump out of the window for shame.

"Are you ready?" I shot her a quick question. Yuuki, who suddenly changed the grip on her Obsidian Crusader to reverse, seemed all to me like she just vanished into thin air. Next thing I knew, she was inches away from my face, her blade swung with the intensity and tenacity of several strong men, aiming to slice right through my hip.

Shocked and taken off-guard, I was given little chances for the block. But I did it anyway, as the blade was raised to meet hers. The steel rang violently, as echoes screech through the peaceful night sky. As the blade stopped, Yuuki winked to my question.

"I think I should be asking that." She said, tauntingly yet carried no hostilities at all. It was as if she was just enjoying the thrill of the fight instead of actually having it out at me.

"Oh, it'll be my pleasure to answer," I responded with an attempted unarmed punch to her torso. Quickly seeing through my movements, she gripped my wrist, trying to stop its momentum. But I wasn't intending to punch her, at least not successfully so. I kept pushing forward as Yuuki took a few step's distances back from me. It was my chance for a counter attack!

My blade freed, I held it high, to my forehead level, two hands, each holding the scabbard and the hilt respectively, pulled the sword apart. A loud clink shattered the air as the blade separated. Wasting no chances, I charged forward at full speed, trying to close the grounds she made seconds ago. I was going for a head-on stab to her chest, intended for a quick lethal attack. But Yuuki was acting as if it was nothing, as she gracefully ept out of the way of the blade, changed the grip back to normal before edging her own blade into the side of my own, directing my stab further away from her.

I wasn't surprised though. That move could be used with good effectiveness against unsuspecting and lower-skilled players, but higher skilled ones like Yuuki could, and would, easily shrug it off like eating a pie. Despite not having done any damage, I could continue with the speed I have. Be fast and don't get hit. Two important pillars that a speed-oriented person like me required.

To which Yuuki did not let me have it.

To my surprise, after shrugging her off and flew out of her distance, preparing my maneuvers, she quickly shortcutted to close in on me.

"You think I'll let you have your ways? You're so naive Hirano-san." She stated before swinging her blade overhead, aiming for my hips again, to which I was forced to block with my sword. The two blades crashed into one another, the tremor was as real and powerful as a force of nature. Is this the power of the Obsidian Crusader? Of the 700 sword skill requirement?

After the sword hit, I reattempted to move away from her. But like she said, I was too naive to think that she would let me. She followed me closely, never a step away from me, while not forgetting to unleash a barrage of sword stabs at me, each faster and more powerful than the previous.

I was completely in defensive mode for the first minute of the battle, with my strategy, pretty much my only ones, being countered spectacularly. I didn't know how I managed to hold out against Yuuki's machine-gun sword attacks for that long, but that was simply the limit. For one, no not even one second, I left myself open and was grazed two times in the shoulder and arm.

So this is her real power huh? She really is as good as she told herself to be. I could very well be defeated here and now, at any moment. But I wouldn't contend to go down like this. Not yet. How can I retaliate?

I wasn't content enough to end it here, but she seemed so.

"Haaaahhh!"

But there is a way out!

Yuuki gave a loud cry before slamming her sword downward. I managed to block her sword, but the tremendous force sent me plummeting to the surface. And it was exactly in my intent.

"Thanks for letting me breathe for a while!"

I shouted as loud as I could, as I rotated my body, leveling myself again before accelerating forward, turning a potentially deadly fall to a graceful flight path.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going!" I could hear her voice in a distance. She probably didn't expect that coming.

Ok so now that I'm out of her grasp, I had to retaliate somehow. I couldn't win in a head-on battle now. Yuuki is too experienced to fall into my movements. I had to think of something else.

To an outsider's viewpoint, it really seemed like I was just running away. I technically am running away from her as well. Glancing back a few times, I could see Yuuki giving chase. Great. I don't have much time. But I don't have many options.

"It's just a duel after all…"

I had one idea, and I'm pretty sure it is going to fail. But as nothing is at stake, I'd give it a try.

It's better to try rather than die not trying it…

I did a C turn downward, directing my flight path straight at her. My right hand was held tightly onto my hilt, while the other was resting on the pommel. I was on collision course with Yuuki. And I am ready for it.

"You're mine!"

CLANK!

I really expected to die in that clash. But to my surprise, I did not. And greater my surprise was when I turned around to see Yuuki clutching her shoulder, with a red mark glowing where her hand laid.

It had a spectacular and unexpected success. I was trying to hit two birds with one stone there, attempting to parry her attack while slashing her, utilizing both our speed coming at each other to outpace her reaction time.

The girl seemed as surprised as I do. We both slowed down together.

"I'm impressed." She complimented. "I never expect to be directly hit like that." And gave me a smile. "But I should be though, considering that I'm taking you seriously."

Really? Then did she ever take anyone seriously in a duel? I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't. But does that mean she recognized me as a skilled player?

"I'm honored," I replied, returning the smile. "You really are as strong as you said you are."

"That's what I've been trying to tell you." She said. "You are free to bail out as soon as you want to."

"Give me a reason why. I'm not going to be hesitant about having to cross the continent to get here again." I replied determiningly.

"That's the spirit! Now that you're done…" She spun her sword skillfully with her one hand before settling in for a reverse grip. "Give me the best what you've got."

"Fine. If you're gonna be like that." I said to her, before raising my blade to my chest level, placing my other hand on the side of the blade. If she really wanted to, yes, I will. I've spent one whole, not literally, year in this game. I should still be able to impress her with something. Something that distinguishes me from any normal players.

Mentally counting down, once the clock ticked, I charged forward, raising my sword for a quick stab. Yuuki only grinned in confidence, as she elegantly spun around, avoiding the stab by a margin, with her back now facing the edge of my sword. With her sword in reverse grip, she swung her arm inside out, attempting to counter-stab me in the ribcage. Forced, I switched arm, releasing my right arm to grip on Yuuki's arm, preventing it from moving any further.

My blade is now in my left hand, as I send it on its way. But Yuuki was smarter than I expected. She proceeded to use the grip on her arm as a base to swing around like a pendulum. The force of the swing was great enough so that I have to let go. However, just like she did not let me have a room a while ago, I also did not let her go so easily. It was just the beginning.

I flew up higher than Yuuki, slashing her down below, to which she blocked easily. But then I immediately maneuvered downward, with much incredible speed so now I was under her, attacking her from below. Before she had a chance to counter attack, I spiraled up to her left, now attacking her left. And when she finally got back to where I was a second ago, I had already gone above her head and attacking from above.

It was slow, but I was gaining the upper hand, outmaneuvering her bit by bit. The first hit came light yet it counts, as her health was being slowly drained to seventy-five percent. That's it. That's it! If I could keep this up long enough. I could actually win!

"You are…quite powerful, Hirano-san!" I could hear Yuuki complimenting, behind the panting as she was trying to keep up with my speed. It gave me some hope. Hope that I could actually beat her if it comes to this.

"But letting you win would be an insult to both of us, so I'm sorry in advance."

What?

My initial response from what she just uttered was when I was attacking her from below. Had she already formulated a counter-plan against my attacks? To my surprise, unlike many times before, in which she did not let me strike, this time, she lowered her guard purposefully, and at the last possible second. My strike was a direct hit to her leg, lowering her health to forty percent.

To my momentum, I flew upward and tried to hit her side. But now, Yuuki is completely prepared for my attack, not to just mitigate it, but to counter attack too. I was going for a simple downward slash, but Yuuki, with an accurately targetted counter-swing, she slammed her Obsidian Crusader into the side of my moving blade. The two forces, one downward by me and the other sideway by Yuuki, exerted onto my sword, and hand respectively, were too powerful to grip. My sword detached, flew away from, my hand and fell down to the ground below.

Just a second ago, I was on the offensive, threatening to kill her at any moment, and now I am at her mercy, as she now raised her blade to my chin. And the victorious smile came into her face. She had won…

But in contrast to her usual hyperactive and cheerful celebration, the lustrous purple-haired girl in front of me simply smiled radiantly as she lowered her sword.

"Ok, maybe I lied about your patheticness. Let's call it a draw shall we?"

"That doesn't sound like you. Not at all." I replied, confusingly.

"Why do you say that?" She smiled curiously at me.

"Well, because you are never the one to give up an obvious win like that. That's what you are to me, at least." I said.

"Ahaha. You aren't the only one who said that." Yuuki said, tilting her head a little bit. "I may have appeared a little competitive here and there, but I'm not the one to hog away all the wins to myself." Her bright ruby eyes still locked into mine. "You gotta give credits where its due. And have some fun too. The game can get a little boring from time to time."

"Wait." I tilted my head too, my eyelid half-closed. "So you're just taunting me for a duel? For fun?"

"Yup! You're too fun to tease Hirano-san." She bluntly yet cheerfully declared. "Don't tell me you take that seriously?" Then turned suspicious.

"Oh no no! I did not." I defended myself, raising my two free hands.

Ok, maybe I did take it a little seriously…

"Really?…" She tapered her eyes as it kept locked into mine. "But anyway. It really is a fun match. You honestly gave me a bit of a challenge."

"You're not joking, are you?"

"I don't. Well, you're still below me by a huge margin, but at least you came up to a point where you can entertain me. How about we have it again sometimes?" She said.

I didn't hesitate one bit.

"I'd beat you next time." I declared confidently.

"Ooohh, I'll be ready for what you have by then." And she returned me with the same demeanor.

Until next time.

"Anyway, now that it has been settled, can I be reinstated as your co-trainer now?" Yuuki suddenly held her two hands together as she pleaded. Yes, like a puppy. It appeared that she knew that was my weakness now.

"...Ok fine." I said, conceding to her. Honestly, I would need to fix this as soon as possible, otherwise, I'd become her slave for sure.

"Keep her company for now. I'll grab my sword."

* * *

As Florence was not yet ready for the non-assistant flight section, we decided to take it easy and enjoy ourselves for now and explore whatever was present at the Undine's capital city. It was surprisingly easily accessible, with one of our companions being one of their own. Because Satsuki, in-game name Florence, didn't always get online at the same time as I do, we decided to share our in-game information and added friends with one another, so that whenever I am not in the game, Yuuki would be the one teaching her instead, up until she knew how to handle the basics of the game's mechanic.

"By the way, you're friends with Hirano-san right, Florence-san?" Yuuki cheerfully asked.

"A-Ah, yeah. We're from the same college." She replied.

"It must be really nice to have friends from the same school play the same game," Yuuki remarked. "Are you two the same age?"

"Yeah…no, actually no." She answered, before unexpectedly refuting it. "I am actually twenty years old."

"Really?" I uttered in surprise. "How exactly…"

"I was born in mid-December of the year before. My family is a little eccentric, somehow. They think it'll be neat to have my birthday be on the first of January the following year, so they had my birth certificate altered." She explained. "So I am technically twenty, but…I guess it doesn't matter right?"

"Yeah. It's interesting to know though." Yuuki said.

"How old are you, Yuuki-san?" She asked politely.

"I'm full fifteen!" The purple-haired girl answered with a smile.

"Wow, you're so young," Florence said in surprise. "But talented."

"Hehe." She merrily made the V sign with her two fingers. "So are you an artist like Hirano-san?"

"No, I intend to be a nurse. It took a while to do so." She replied. "So how about you Yuuki-san? What…no, you're still 15 right? But do you have any plans for the future?"

I jerked my head a little at her inquirement. No, it wasn't anything strange. It was a perfectly natural and ok question, to an outsider at least. To me, however, it probably was not for both of us. I never knew what was up with her, but I felt like I knew her already.

"Ahaha…" There we go. I saw those eyes before. That was during our first hangout together. "This is a little embarassing but…" She was scratching her head while still trying, if not forcing, to retain a smile on her face. "…I don't have any plans."

"Not at all?" Florence asked her curiosity, and also her attitude that I came to know and dislike.

"Not in the long term at least," Yuuki said.

I felt like a knife was cutting me internally. Behind that long purplish-haired girl was the transparency of a certain dirt brown haired gentleman. The person who now had no long term life goals anymore. The person who had pretty much given up his dreams that he was so passionate about ever since he was old enough to talk. All of that now gone. Vanished.

"But do you have a dream, Yuuki-san? Or a wish?" Florence asked.

"Yes, I do." Yuuki quickly replied.

"What is it?"

"I…" She was a little hesitant with her own answer, but upon looking at me, she seemed to be gaining confidence somehow. "I want to live every day of my life to my fullest."

Her voice was as joyful and happy as it was sad. I was stunned to hear. The transparent vision was gone just as she said so.

'That wasn't you.'

Yeah. That totally wasn't me right now. The me right now would never have spoken words like that.

But why and how do I relate so much to Yuuki so much? I barely knew her for more than a week. Her face…was the myriad of sorrow and joy that could only come out through adversities. She is not the embodiment of the current me. She is the better me. She is someone that I should be looking up to, to become. She contained the lost soul that I threw away.

"I see. That's great."

Who am I kidding? I don't even know a small quarter of her life and now I'm pretentiously talking like I knew her for my whole life.

That wasn't entirely what Florence was asking for, but she seemed to be satisfied somehow. I don't really get it.

I looked at my friend, the braided Undine. She seemed to understand immediately what was on my mind. And she warmly smiled, as if she was telling me something...

* * *

"By the way Florence-san, the game is gonna have a huge update the day after the day after tomorrow. Would you like to come with us?" Yuuki excitedly asked her new friend.

"The day after the day after tomorrow? That's…" Florence was trying to figure out what she meant. The wording is a little confusing.

"That's Thursday. We'll be visiting the new Aincrad that they will be putting back in." I clarified, knowing the exact date.

"They're putting back Aincrad? Wow, I didn't think they would bring back a place where thousands had died."

See? We both think alike. It is not rocket science to understand that bringing something like that back is not a good idea.

"But Thursday…ahh…sorry, I'm busy for the entire day. I have both day's classes and an interview, so I'm afraid I'm gonna have to pass." She replied.

"Aw, that's a shame. But that's alright, we'll go there next time. Promise?" Yuuki pouted but soon returned to her usual attitude.

"Promise." With a pretty smile, Florence replied.

"Anyway, it is getting a little late now. It's quarter past ten already." I said, looking at the digital clock on my menu.

"It's ten already?! Oh no I have a shift early in the morning." Florence uttered in surprise. "Anyway, it's a pleasure meeting you Yuuki-san."

"Nice to meet you too Florence-san! Good luck with your work!" She waved her goodbyes before looking over at me. "I'll see you on Thursday, Hirano-san."

"I'll see you then." We both said our goodbyes as we simultaneously logged out of the game.

I never thought I would be looking forward to that day so much…


	7. Chapter 7: The Frames of Dreams

**I somehow managed to release this chapter before stepping into my college finals, so I'm glad I did. I'm quite proud of chapter 7 more than other chapters, since it is one turning plot point that I have been longing to write ever since I started this fic.** **Again, it has been a great experience writing this story, and to be honest receiving your reviews really motivates me to write even more. If you have a little bit of time and is interested in this story, please tell me how you feel of the story. Good? Bad? Interesting? Does it need improvement? I'd like to see civil constructive criticism to my limitations as much as I wanted to see praises. Things that helps construct a better story. I just don't want to see negative reviews without any good reasons attached to them. I'd classify them as rants and would ignore them completely.**

 **Again, thank you for your support and enjoy the chapter**

* * *

Chapter 7: The Frames of Dreams

April 4, 2025

I felt the weight of my body pressing on my bed, as it was clear that I had returned to the cruel world called reality. It took me a few seconds to regain control, that I had left of my fingers, arms and legs, which were curling inward involuntarily. It was subtle, but I really felt I was drying up like a dead plant. And it was somewhat true. I was slowly devolving into the life of a plant. The process is natural, and there is nothing I could do to stop it.

I slowly turned my heads around before strengthening my back muscles, lifting my back up to roll over to my side. My legs swung over to the side of the bed, gently slipping onto my indoor slippers, and all the while my hands were pushing its hardest trying to push myself upright. Every breath was a push that shook my hand to its bones. How I missed the days when I could just jump out of my bed with the energy and strength of a normal person, anticipating the day ahead of me with my heads held high.

As I was now unable to raise my hand above my head anymore, I had to bend my head down just to have my hair done, or at least not make it as messy as it was. After that was done, I reached out for my walking cane. Just as it was a few days ago, the tremor did not relent. Despite having been using the cane to support my balance, I still managed to stumble onto my desk nearby. The weight of my own body was beginning to take its toll on me, as I slumped into the desk. It was excruciating, as you were now fighting every single minute of your life not to fall.

But again, how come I was so weak after such a short amount of time? I had been diagnosed for slightly over a year now. I knew I had already lived through one-third of my remaining days now, but I also knew that my body would not deteriorate that fast. It's just so hard to believe. I couldn't be that weak. Maybe, maybe it was actually due to my extensive gaming session in ALO that my muscles were a little too inactive. Yeah, that must have been it.

I was in a state of denial. Denial of reality. I was trying to run away into my realm of imagination where I could seek comfort and serenity, where I could reassure myself that everything would be ok. But my effort was soon splashed with a bucket of icy water in the cruelest and most straightforward fashion that I never would imagine, or want, it to happen to anyone…

By the time I finished my shower, fully dressed and ready to head to college, my limbs were having their turmoil. As I walked past the door, I stumbled again, this time requiring the handrail outside my apartment room to keep me from falling. My heart was rushing with beats that banged my ears. My arm, the cane holding ones, hurt. Badly so. Muscle cramp. It happened all the time ever since, but I could never get used to it. The pain was so intense it rushed through every corner of flesh and bones. At this point, it would've been better to be stabbed with thousands of needles than this. The next thing I knew I wasn't just leaning on the handrail. I was slumping on it, praying that it wouldn't fall off, as I grew weak, trying to shake off the pain, holding it in before I went insane. It took over five minutes for it to subside, for the muscle to relax. God knows how much more I could take.

When I stood up, with my cane and my arms hugging the handrail, the two lower limbs seemed to be on strike. They were refusing to cooperate. They were refusing for sure. Like what the hell do you think you're doing?! I had a class to attend here and how dare you show such defiance to my orders!

Frustrated, I stood up straight, or at least try to, and walked. And walked. And walked. For a moment, I was fine. My legs were fine, just a little rigid but I was still walking at a regular pace. I could still be normal. I could be.

Until…

"Gah!"

I tripped.

And to make matters worse, I tripped at the first step of the stair descending to the earth. So instead of walking down like a normal human being, I slammed into the handrail nearby before experiencing a few revolutions and then finally being thrown violently into the hard concrete down below.

How I manage to stay conscious after that I did not know, but I was flat on the ground, my chest hard pressed against the concrete. I still felt my heart rushing, and my breath hounding my lungs. My vision went amok, sense of position went out of the window. The bush right nearby seemed to be both running towards me and not. Then it kicked in. All at once. Even worse, even as my ribs and legs were screaming of the adrenaline stampeding through my veins, I could not do anything to mitigate the pain. Even the simplest of things like holding onto the pain area was an impossible task.

What the hell could I do? I couldn't move properly, let alone stand up right. And even if I could, the pain from the fall earlier would render me immobilized for a long while. Hell, who knows if I broke anything earlier. All I could do at the moment was just lie there and wait for people to come and help me. Shouldn't be too long, since it's early morning.

Right?…

It felt like heaven was abandoning me. Like God was turning his back on me. I waited, and waited, and waited. Nobody was there. Or at least nobody came to help. A minute passed felt like a medium eternity. It was my all time fear coming to reality. The feeling when you are in deep trouble but there is nobody around you to help. You are the only variable, but there's no way you can help yourself. It was beyond your own capability. So you are stuck with the despair knowing that you will be stuck like this forever. For an eternity, you'd lie like this, uncomfortness you could not deal with.

Tears began to well up in my eyes. I wanted to cry. I wanted to let it all out. The pain, the sorrow, the frustration and despair upon being diagnosed with this deadly disease. But there was no one here to hear me. Even if I cry out loud like a baby, nobody would be here to comfort me or help me out of my misery. My cries were in a black hole, with entrances but no exit. Just like my existence, trapped in a slowly degrading body, confined in a black hole that is gradually collapsing and evaporating.

"And so yeah, I was like 'What the hell', there is no possible way that-Oh my god! Hirano-kun!"

* * *

I was discovered by the neighbor and was taken away before I had a breakdown. But the damage was clear. I was taken right to the nearest hospital for further treatment. Upon receiving me, the doctors were all too familiar with my name, status and condition already. They didn't make it seem like it was anything of an emergency, but they did take me in. Turned out I did not break any body parts, to which I quietly expressed my relief. But what came right after that was a hint of what was to come.

Yes, the usual ALS testing procedure…

All the medical procedures aside, the things they made me do was the evaluation of muscle strengths. First would be legs, as they told me to push against a machine, one could be seen in gyms, though this variant was significantly modified to accommodate people like me. So instead of pushing against a board with weights counteracting my push, I had weighs that helped me pushing it. I remember the last result I had. Now I needed two more weighs to push the board. I had obviously grown weaker.

Next was arm muscle check, pretty much the same thing. In addition to the arm check, there were the finger muscle checks with the clothes pegs. But all in all just like the legs result. The only test that made a significant difference was the voice check, as my voice was still alright. It seemed like the disease hadn't affected my vocal chords yet. A little bit of light, but hidden behind the clouds.

After all was done, I was taken to a hospital room where I would be waiting for the evaluation result. Again, back to the room full of disinfectant. It brought back memories. Painful memories. One could say I've gotten used to it, but I didn't. I couldn't. I wanted to get out. I wished to break this dull emotionless and cold white wall down at this moment. I needn't wait for an evaluation. I knew I was going to die, slowly and terribly.

I was staring into the distant like a real zombie. At first, the nurses seemed to be concerned, letting me use their utilities to distract me from my negative train of thoughts, but now they knew it had no use. And they then occupied themselves with their own work, with other patients. How ironic for a normally sociable person like me to be alone by myself like this.

The next thing that got my attention, after whoever knows how long, was the doctor entering the hospital room and strolled over to my bed. My expectation was not betrayed. He quickly explained to me about my current situation.

Long story short, my physicality had declined significantly faster than they had anticipated. That was probably the last, but the most probable, thing I wanted to hear. Now my chances of finishing my art degree, which had already been savagely improbable, came close to nearly impossible. Now my dream of becoming an artist was slipping away from the palm of my hands.

I felt my heart sank into the abyss…

Today was a stark reminder of how weak and feeble I was under the mortal laws. That no matter how I pretended to be strong in the virtual world, or anywhere for that matter, my real self was still a weak human being, bound to watch himself die in pain and helplessness.

After the explanation, I was offered the opportunity for an in-home care nurse. Basically, this nurse would be that arms, legs, and eyes when mine could not help myself. She would cook and help me with everything. Not that I was against the idea, but considering how independent I had been up until now, the idea of a nurse who I had to constantly rely on felt strange to me. In addition to the nurse thing, my family was also called. Almost on spot.

My family was composed of my parent, my grandparent and a younger sister still in middle school. They weren't the best family in the world, but they were good people. They had been supporting my decision to become an artist even though I went against normal family tradition. And after my diagnosis, they had always been the pillar of support both financially and emotionally. The latter didn't work that much, but I had been entirely reliant on their pocket to help me with my treatment of ALS. And I really appreciated them for it. I wished I could one day say to them 'Thank you but I can take care of myself from now' so that they wouldn't need to worry about me, but it seemed like a task far from my reach now. I had to rely on them once more.

The nurse next to me was talking gently, so as not to disturb other patients needing rest, on her cellphone before politely passing it to me. I took it with a shaky hand. On the other line was a mature womanly voice: my mother. I could tell for sure she was worried. Not wanting to invoke it any further, I sat up, helped by the nurse who just handed me the phone, bending a little forward while I slowly raise my phone up to my right ear, supported by the entirety of my two arms.

"Hirano-kun?"

Her voice shredded my heart. She sounded so scared. I really wanted to confirm my safety, but I instantly regretted calling her after hearing her.

"Yes, Okaa-san. I'm alright."

"Oh my God. The moment the Hokkaido hospital number popped up, my heart nearly stopped." She replied, sighing in great reliefs. I could barely hear another voice with her, an older masculine voice to which I immediately identified as my father. "What did they say?" My mother then asked weakly.

I briefly explained my situation.

"I see." She replied shortly. I could tell she was just speechless, not knowing what appropriate words to say at this moment. I then continued to talk about the nurse thing. "We can probably afford that for you…" She said, before stopping for quite a while. I heard her exhaled. "But you can always move back to us you know…"

I sighed as the words echoed. I knew what that meant. I was from quite a rural town. Nowhere as big as Hokkaido, but was not necessarily under-developed. Healthcare there was comparable to any cities in Japan, so that was not a problem. The real problem was…

"Okaa-san, you know I work really hard for this."

There was no art school there. That pretty much meant if I go back to my hometown, I would be severing my dreams as an artist forever. Buried as an unfortunately unfinished ambition of an excellent student.

"I know dear. But I can't afford you to see you like this. To see you living a life in a distant city and pursuing something-"

"Okaa-san!"

Before my mother had a chance of finishing what she said, a strict but a lot younger voice stopped her. It was my younger sister, Yuina. She stopped her before my mother could blurt out the words that I already knew. Pursuing a dream that could never come to pass? She had a point though. Why was I this stubborn all of a sudden when I had already given up for over a year now? Were there any reasons for me to keep this going?

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." She apologized flusteringly over the phone. Another sigh escaped my lips.

"Okaa-san, I need time." I shortly replied. This wasn't something I could decide in a heat of a moment.

"Ok, I understand. Take care…" She sent her regards to me before hanging up.

* * *

After the call, the hospital realized that I need not further stays, so I was discharged. Though not without a particular gift. As now I could not walk properly with a single cane anymore, they decided to give me a second cane for me to walk. So I was now basically a four-legged animal now. No, I was a lot worse, as I was way slower and vulnerable. It took me a while to even leave the hospital's entrance. Thankfully, the hospital was nice enough to provide me with a drop-off service. They didn't technically have it, but they called the taxi and covered a part of the fare. I was really grateful for it, as the most frustrating part of my apartment is that it had no elevator. It didn't make sense to build an elevator, but it really was a disadvantage for people like me. I was trying to request something from the landlord, and hopefully, they'd respond soon.

After I was carried up the stairs, the taxi driver left to continue his job, with a kind prayer sent my way. The door to my apartment slowly creaked open, as I walked in, my two canes slowly leading the way. After turning on the light, my first reaction was to go into the bathroom and took a shower. Hadn't done so since this morning. Once done, I snail-like crept out to my desk and sat down in my chair with a loud thud. While doing so, the words of my mother echoed again.

On a person's life path, it is often not foreseeable when a drastic turn was about to happen. But occasionally, one could be the one directly influencing such bent of a path. And that was what I was about to be experiencing. I was faced with two choices, either to move back to my hometown, quitting my dream forever but enjoyed marginal healthcare and surrounded by my family once I pass away. Or I could try and press on, trying to pursue the dream that I knew would be cut short, and likely would be alone on the whole journey.

My hand slowly reached for the desk lamp. And was lit the entire corner of my room. On the wall above the desk was a gallery of its own, with frames of pictures being pinned to it. It caught my attention. As I looked at these pictures with my tired eyes, surging through these memory fragments, I began to be reminded of myself: the very reason I was here.

On one corner was the picture of the six years old me, proudly and with a big smile, holding my district-level competition prize: A modest second. My drawing was pretty bad compared to now, but I was just a brat by then, and I was simply better, or maybe luckier, than most other brats of the ages. But that was my first achievement done with my very own hand. A proud one to be honest. Right on the right-hand side of that picture was fast-forwarding two years from then. Yet another prize, an even more prideful one. A prestigious first in the city-level competition. It really brought back some great memories. I really wasn't taking this competition that seriously and intended to use it as a testing ground for a new art style I read on the Internet a week before the competition. It was a pretty choppy attempt, in my opinion, at the Fibonacci sequence, but I surprisingly landed the first prize. Everybody was astonished, and from there I knew I had it in me.

A few more pictures and I saw myself, again standing high on the podium, receiving the third prize in a province-level contest. This time was during middle school. I did that several times while I was still in my hometown. I was slowly adding bricks to my ambitions. Then I moved to this huge city, Hokkaido, to pursue my high school diploma. The frames of pictures of me with my high school class seemed to be calling out for me. Me hanging out with my school's art club was also there. The one when I was at the station, saying goodbyes to my family, was also crying out for my attention. I didn't enter as many competitions as I used to, but in exchange managed to enroll in my favorite college, majoring in what I passioned for my whole life. That brought me to the last frame, the day of enrolment. The last fragment of the recollection. Not very long after that, I was diagnosed…And no more records of me were traced.

After getting lost in my own train of recollection, I returned to reality. And now I was sitting here, watching as the light reflected off the thin glasses of the picture frames, just as how it was trying to reflect the image of myself, my old self, back onto me, lightening the dark cloud of all the myriads of emotions I was going through now.

Looking to the right of my desk, I saw a wooden easel, around the height of my chest. Placed on it was an empty canvas, and a palette leaning on it. These sets were bought by my parent, in support of my artistic passion, before I entered high school. It had been quite a while ever since I got it. The palette especially caught my attention. I could see it quite clearly. The hole where I would usually put my finger through, it was a little bit dug down, worn out after countless time I held it in my arm. Other spots were also damped with how many times I mixed colors in it.

It just went to show me who I was. This was my dream, my passion that had been carved as my identity ever since I learned how to hold a pen in my tiny palm. I knew it, I could feel it, and I had followed it. I even left the comfort of my own home to pursue it. Am I going to throw it all away now? After all these years and effort? Continuing would almost be futile, and everything I did would be remarked as a vain and poignant attempt. But quitting wouldn't be any different. I could find comfort if I move back, but would I be happy with it? Would I be happy not chasing after the person who I was born to become, especially after I had worked my entire life up until now to get it, only to quit at the last moment?

I clenched my forehead, feeling dehydrated. These were no easy decisions, and none of them were the correct one. I really didn't know what to do. I felt so helpless and directionless. I needed help. Please, someone.

Someone…

"Wait…"

Immediately when I thought of it, I was alarmed. I felt like I had forgotten something. What day was it today?

I briefly checked my phone for it.

"Oh god no."

April 4

That's the day I promised to meet with Yuuki in ALO!

I promised to meet her at three. It is now eight in the evening. Oh god, she must be really mad right now!

I hurriedly, but slowly, stood up from my chair, and, with unstable legs, rushed for the Amusphere. God, I felt so guilty right now. I could be late for a few minutes that's fine, but this is five hours for fuck's sake.

Upon reaching the Amusphere, I desperately tried to put it on, but ended up having to improvise, as raising my hand above my head was too hard for me now. But I eventually did and logged into the game soon after.

* * *

Once I was out of reality, unbounded by physical limitations, I steamed for the meeting location. My menu bar was red in color. Five unread messages. I didn't even need to look at the sender to see who it was.

'Hey, Hirano-san. You're late you know that? Where are you?' - Yuuki - 3:17 PM

'Are you busy or something? If you are, you could've at least given me a message." - Yuuki - 3:41 PM

'Alright, this is a little cruel of you to let me wait over an hour for this. I wasn't going to spend the whole day waiting for you. I'm going to train at the Nanai river in the Cait Sith territory if you want to meet me.' - Yuuki - 4:05 PM

She even had the patience to wait that long for me. I'm really impressed.

'You still haven't come back? Come on, what has been keeping you occupied for so long?' - Yuuki - 5:57 PM

I was in the hospital, lying helplessly on the bed like a zombie. I felt the urge to write that down and explain it to her that it wasn't my fault. But I did not. I couldn't bring myself to. I just continued onward, reading the final message.

I widened my eyes in surprise.

'Hey…it isn't like you to forget our meeting up to five hours. Are you ok? I'm quite worried.'

Yuuki's worried? Oh god please not all of this again. I didn't want one more person to be worried over my condition. I had to make sure to apologize to her once I got to her.

When was that sent?

"8:02 PM…"

That was only fifteen minutes ago!

I had to find her. She said in the third message that she would be at Nanai river right? But it had already been four hours since that message, she wouldn't likely be staying there for that long. There were no tracking devices in this game, to prevent stalking and stuff, so I just have to find her manually. But I knew only one location that she might be there. The place we agreed to meet.

The Black Iron Palace.

* * *

This new Aincrad was special in a way. There were a few ways to enter the castle. You can make your way up the castle directly and through the open areas. Or you can choose to teleport up there with your menu bar. I'd love to explore the open areas and how the castle was connected to the outside world of Alfheim, but now time was of the essence, so I teleported there. I was spawned right there, right in front of the huge and menacing palace that once marked the memorial of all who perished in that horrible game.

I could compare it to a football field. The palace ground was simply breathtaking. In front of me was the place in question, made of beautiful black marble, shaped into two domes placed consecutively with each other, as tall as ten grown men. The courtyard was also something to be witnessed only in huge popular landmarks. The sheer size of the area could easily dwarf me in place. At the very center was a tall clock, dead in its tracks, forever marking the exact time the game was cleared.

In the near obscured corner of the clock, I could see someone sitting silently behind it. The first color to hit my eyes was purple. Who else.

"Hey, Yuuki…"

I tried calling out to her. She did not turn to face me. All of a sudden, a vial item was thrown my way. It hit the ground and burst into flames.

"Gah!" I jumped up in surprise. I recognized that item. It was called Dragon's Sweat, a highly flammable liquid that could be lit on fire even under normal circumstances. The mythology behind it was quite complicated, but it was basically a molotov cocktail without the need to lit the bottle on fire. It wouldn't do much damage if you avoided it in time, but it was enough sign to deliver the message.

"Five hours you left me waiting." I heard her quiet voice, sending chills down my spine. I honestly was expecting for her wrath to come at me at any moment. "You better have a good explanation."

It was when she turned to me. Her eyes were frowning but didn't entirely strike me as being angry. There was something in her eyes that I struggled to comprehend.

"I…" I stuttered, not knowing what to say. It was at this moment that she stood up and showed herself fully.

"Did something happen?" She said, her tone this time was a lot softer than I expected her to. Was she angry?

"I was a little caught up with my artwork." I clumsily tried to lie my way through. I silently prayed for her to just go along with it. But I was too naive.

"Really? I don't think someone can get caught up in something for over five hours and forget such an appointment like this one." She countered. "Besides, you should take a look at yourself."

"Huh?" I uttered confusingly.

"Your right eye." She replied. My right eye? What was wrong with it?

I opened the menu bar and got the Hand Mirror item out. Looking at myself in the mirror, I could see a visible red scratch at the right corner of my eye, unobscured by the white bangs that I had set for my avatar. My eyes widened in realization. It was from the fall earlier this morning. The doctors did not patch it up, considering it wasn't that all important, so they only disinfected the wound and left it there to heal on it own. It must have passed through the Amusphere's face scan. The Amusphere was similar to the NerveGear in the way that they could both collect facial data from the outside world through some sort of scanning technique and use those data as default customization, and then from there, you can choose to alter your face to whatever you want. I didn't choose to alter my face, only my hair color and style, so it didn't load the alternate data and instead just implement whatever they scanned into the game. I could've noticed it, but I was in a hurry and let it slip through.

I realized how stupid I had been. This girl is way more observant than I thought.

Yuuki didn't seem angered by my poor attempt to lie. She just looked…sad. Her ruby-colored eyes drooped, seemingly unable to focus on anything. Patiently, she waited for a few moments, waited for me to actually say something. The truth included. I was, however, silent for the whole time. I just couldn't speak out what I wanted to say.

As if she was reading my mind, Yuuki then replied.

"If it is too difficult for you to say it…"

Before shrugging her shoulders lightly before turning away. Just as we had both been gentle on each other, she didn't press on. Unlike other people, who could be a little pressing and insensitive, she was respectful of my privacy. Both of us knew it. That both of us had something unpleasant that we just didn't want to share. But it didn't help to make me any more comfortable. In contrast, I felt even more guilty than before. I would rather stay in the previous awkward silence than this. This wasn't the first hangout, or at the clubhouse, where we didn't have any pressure or anything to say it. But this was five hours of latency. That unpleasantness of mine had had consequences. It just didn't feel right at all to use my uncomfortable circumstances to justify for my faults for missing this trip.

"Wait."

She quietly turned around. Her eyes now looked directly into mine, seemingly expecting something.

"I was in the hospital for the day."

I said it. I said I wouldn't want to worry people, but I just said it.

"I fell off the stairs and was taken in. That's the reason why I was so late, and for the mark on my eye."

I had mixed and uncomprehensible feelings when I finally found the courage to say it. Regret? For I might have worried someone when I shouldn't have? Relief? For finally saying something I had been desperate to hide? Or fear? The subconscious fear of being left alone or pity that I normally wouldn't care? Feelings really were strange things. Your subconsciousness and sentient mind could disagree on many aspects.

Yuuki did perhaps see that coming. Her eyebrows were raised for a second, but she didn't seem too surprised. Her lips twitched a bit, before letting out a short and barely audible hum.

"Hmm."

Then, when I least expected it, she slowly approached me.

"Huh?"

And wrapped her arms around my shoulders as she pulled me into her warmth.

It wasn't too long. A few seconds at least. But it was really uplifting for me. I felt like a heavy burden had just been lifted off my shoulders. A droplet quietly escaped my eye. It was something I always needed, but not always received ever since that day. I desperately needed it. I wished it never end, that it would last forever and ever.

She ended the hug with a light squeeze at the end, before taking a few steps back, looking at me again, with a kind smile.

"I'm glad you're ok now, it seems."

I nodded happily.

"Yeah, I'm alright now."

Thank you, Yuuki.

"It's a little late, but if we can still have a tour at night if it doesn't bother you." She said.

I answered almost without any hesitation.

"Sure!"


	8. Chapter 8: New Aincrad

**Hey guys. College is finally done for now, but since my mom is coming, I'd have to prepare for her arrivals. I'm sorry if I kept you guys waiting, but this is what I could provide you guys for now. I'll try to keep the story updated regularly though. I've been enjoying myself writing this story and developing its characters unlike any other fics I have written so far. To be honest, Hirano is probably my most favorite OCs I have ever created, simply because during the creation and development of this guy, I have learned so many new things that I myself do not know before. And I feel like I owe this guy something, so I would love to continue writing him in the future.**

 **On a side note, while preparing for my mom's arrival, I suddenly had the idea of a new SAO fic. A story about a father delving into GGO, and arguably his first game he ever played, in order to better understand his young teenage daughter better. I think paternal love it is a cool concept that not many writers have written before, and quite meaningful to look at I would say. It will likely to be an OC centric story, but I can probably consider putting canon characters like Sinon or LLENN in so as to assist their development. That is just an initial idea. It can be a nice idea, or a disaster, since I know the mainstream SAO readers like more romantic stories. But what do you guys think? If you want to share it with me.**

 **Anyway, enjoy the chapter! And I'll see you guys in the next one.**

* * *

Chapter 8: New Aincrad

It was just like the other day.

"Hey check this out Hirano-san. They sell the Tremble Shortcake!"

"Please. I've had enough of that…"

The taste of 'fuck you and your entire fortune' was too much for me to handle properly right now. I admit, the cake's taste was really good, but I just couldn't enjoy it knowing I would be eating like half a house and one year of effort into building my character. Maybe I would if I got richer. Probably so. But I couldn't imagine that happening anytime soon.

"Come on we'll share the money." Yuuki pressed on, but I was insistent. No means no.

"A quarter of a house still isn't worth it." I replied. "I think there is a lot more in Aincrad that is more interesting, and a lot cheaper than this."

"Aww…" Yuuki looked a little disappointed, glancing at the cake a few times. But, as I expected, she quickly returned to her usual self. "Hey, how about we check out the boss room? I am quite curious to see how challenging this new world can be."

Hmm. It seemed like a cool thing to do.

"Alright. Where is it though?" I opened the mini-map in my menu. It was located in the far North Western region of the floor. It would take days to get there, but luckily, in towns like the Town of Beginnings, we had the choice to teleport it there if we want to. Neat.

"Is the boss room open though?" I asked genuinely.

"Well, Aincrad is open from floor 1 to floor 7, so you can face the new boss now if you want to." Yuuki replied

Well, then there is no reason not to go. To be honest, I'd really want to see what the SAO players back then had to handle. I'd probably die anyway, but it was worth the experience.

"I don't see why not." I replied shortly, as Yuuki beamed in excitement

"Let's go!"

* * *

Moments later, we arrived at the large boss hall. And there was this strange atmosphere that the game appeared to be constructing for the players. If there were anything that could actually make the players intimidated, this game knew how to do it. The seemingly endless vastness of the lobby hall stacked on the dim aura created by the occasional torches on the walls. The tall gates also served to scale the canvas of this boss. It wasn't any kitchen sink monsters. This is a dungeon boss, a boss that guards the gate to the second floor. And unlike us, those who face that boss were carrying a heavier stake. If they weren't strong enough, they could all perish.

Right next to the boss room's door, I saw a stone slab with some sort of engraving on it.

 **This boss room was cleared on December 4** **th** **, 2022, thanks to the combined effort of these 44 players.**

Not all 44 players' names were listed though. They only showed parties that were formed in that battle and the leader of those parties.

 **Here rest the souls of these players, who unfortunately fell in battle:**

 **-Diavel**

 **May the fallen players rest in peace**

Only one casualty? That's quite impressive I'd say, but considering the stakes, they probably would have to be very prepared for this. Poor this Diavel guy though. May he rest in peace.

With the prayer sent his way, I turned to Yuuki. She was staring at the huge door the whole time.

"Are you ready to get in there?" I asked.

"Of course I am!" She responded to me with her usual smile of confidence. "Though it feels tense for some reason."

"It does." I acknowledged. "Maybe because of the prior knowledge that this used to be a death game that it gives the tension that shouldn't really be there."

"Hmm." She nodded her head gently. "It took 44 people to take this boss down. Do you think the two of us can handle him?"

"No." I replied, chuckling. "Unless you establish yourself to be an insanely overpowered player that can blast the World Tree's grand quest by yourself."

"Hahaha!" She laughed heartily. "I'd be banned for hacking then." And joked back. "But let's see how far we go."

"Sure, I certainly don't mind seeing how good we are." I gave her the thumbs-up as we both pushed the door open.

Once we're in, the door closed behind us. The teleportation still seemed to work, so it wasn't really a kill or be killed situation. I unwrapped my Swiss Saber and unsheathed it quietly, preparing for any signs of enemies. It didn't come stealthy, however, but rather in the most dramatic way possible. The room lit up into a luminescence of lighting, as the boss made its presence known. It struck me as a huge dog-like monster with a poorly fitted armor. It was at least both our heights combined, was reddish brown in color and carried an ax and a shield. Four HP bars faded into the interface, along with a red indicator. And then finally, the name of the boss.

 **Illfang the Kobold Lord**

"That is perhaps the ugliest boss I have ever faced." I commented truthfully.

That moment, the boss gave a deafening roar, seemingly angry, probably at my comment, shaking the earth below our feet, as the monster ordered its minions to attack. Unlike Eachtar's minions, this one was a whole lot faster and seeming less mindless than the zombies, but for us speedsters, that should not really be a problem. But the numbers could still cause us problems. Plus these things have names of their own: Ruin Kobold Sentinel.

"That's awfully a lot of them." Yuuki said. "Alright, get ready!"

I could count up to twelve of them. Holy shit. There's only two of us. And there might be more.

The sentinels were making their way toward us, two at a time. I observed their movements carefully before making my moves. They seemed quite sluggish due to the heavy weapon. As a speeder, I could make use of it.

I took a quick sidestep as the first sentinel charged through me, having overused its momentum. I quickly delivered my multiple jousts at the creature's exposed back, shattering it to pieces. But the second one was quick to its target. I could not dodge it in time. As a result, I had to block its attacks in haste.

My feet clashed with the Sentinel's armor, sending the creature stumbling back in shock. A couple of sword slashes blew off the chunk of its helmet, and the final stab to its exposed face finally brought its health down to zero, and the creature was put out of misery in a million small pieces. But then a huge scream called for my attention. The boss itself was running to me full speed with its axe locked upon my position. I hastily jumped out of its way, as the axe came down to where my head had been half a second ago

Just after I recovered, I saw Yuuki finishing off a sentinel with a single but extremely accurate stab aimed at the vulnerable throat. Seeing how the boss was still recovering after the attack it was intending to kill me, the purplish haired girl spared it no seconds. With the elegance of a professional dancer, she charged the beast and delivered a barrage of sword jousts onto its stomach before ending the combo with a diagonal slash. Then she ran away to avoid its subsequent attacks.

I found myself being honored again as the boss really liked to make me the target once Yuuki was out of its sight. The boss charged me again. This time, however, I was ready for it. Illfang made a simple horizontal slash, aiming at my neck. But I saw that through a mile away, as I leaped forward, dodging the slash and allowed myself to slide over to the back of the boss. I was, however, wasn't ready for what was next. The other sentinels behind the boss charged at me. I was forced to fend off for myself there, allowing Illfang to turn its attention to me again.

"Oh great…"

The beast's roar awakened me that I was in big trouble. Seriously, why does that dog love me so much? I could die here to that.

"Hirano-san! Duck!"

"What?"

I heard Yuuki shouting from afar. I don't even know what she intended, but I subconsciously just followed her to that. I couldn't really duck properly though. The Illfang delivered a slam with its ax, to which I was forced to block, but I still found the room to bend over. And immediately, I felt something pressed against my back, rolling from one side to another.

"Huh?"

After parrying Illfang's attack, I saw Yuuki right next to me, her sword ready to counter those sentinels. Near her a sentinel had already perished to her blade. Damn, she was so quick.

"I'll take care of the remaining guards, you hold out the boss for now!" She yelled out.

"Sounds like a plan."

You love me don't ya Illfang? Well, then I'll gladly return the feeling.

Great love indeed, the boss roared at me like a pissed off animal, its eyes glowing red as it eyed on me with passion. With a monstrous swing of his ax, the boss managed to drain quite a lot, in fact over a quarter, of my health pool, as it was apparent that I could not dodge him quick enough to escape unscathed. That just goes to show how fragile my avatar was. Literally could die to any direct hit.

Now that I had the opportunity to counterattack, I swung my sword wildly at the huge kangaroo's tummy, as efficiently as possible: up then down then one horizontal slash. I didn't see any weaknesses with this boss, so it appeared that I just had to claw my way through this one. The rule was usually if there are no observable weaknesses, the boss can easily be dealt with using universal physical or magical attack. However, this seemed like a tough fish to fry, like a few times tougher than the last event boss I fought with Yuuki. I only managed to flinch the thing and didn't even noticeably brought its health down.

I didn't know if the mods changed the boss's health and stats, and the sentinel's numbers to fit with the current game stage, but it really seemed like it was a fitting boss for twenty to thirty-ish number of players. The sentinels were ok to deal with, but the boss was just ass. We'd probably gonna lose anyway, but I'd love to see how far I could go.

…which turned out quite unexpectedly.

The boss did a normally impossible somersault, jumped backward and landed nicely on its feet quite far from us. But it quickly closed the distance with us as it ran to us with its full might. Ok. I could likely handle that smoothly. It wasn't too fast, so I should be able to sidestep that thing and counterattack on its exposed back. I raised my sword in preparation for my drafted plan.

But then my sword suddenly glowed bright red. Its radiance shocked my eyes in a moment. It appeared to be attached to my blade wherever it goes. Is this a new feature or something? It looked nice, adding more flashes to the swing. Little did I realize, it wasn't just cosmetics.

"What?"

My body suddenly moved on its own. I felt control over my virtual muscles being drained, as it was apparent that the game system had taken control over me. My limbs tensed, as the system involuntarily guided me forward.

"Wait no no no!"

…in the wrong direction.

"I didn't call for this!"

Instead of sidestepping gracefully, avoiding the boss's ax hit, I charged straight ahead, running into a head-on ramming course with Illfang...

* * *

One average human being with elf appearance versus a giant ugly dog-kangaroo at least four times the size of said human in a ramming battle. It didn't even take a child to know who would win.

"Man, you just got absolutely rekt!" Yuuki patted my shoulder while laughing as we both exited the teleport to the outside of the dungeon. "I'm gonna be rewatching that moment forever."

"You got that on tape?!" I asked, groaning. "Well, I hope you have fun seeing me blasted into smithereens..."

I was both joking and sarcastically serious. That ram battle was perhaps the worst death I had ever experienced in this game. Sure, pain was not really a thing here, but the fact that you got thrown into a violent spiral and then my head getting slammed into a stone pillar before disappearing into a green spirital flame weren't any pleasant to enjoy. But it sure is enjoyable to watch others suffer!

"I'll be sure to show it to the Sleeping Knights too!"

I rolled my eyes while chuckling bitterly. Yeah, go ahead and spread the misery…

"Though that was intense while it lasted. I somewhat understood the feelings the SAO players had to go through now."

I turned to Yuuki as she said so.

"It was probably a lot worse, since the threat of death is not present here." I added, as we both walked in relaxation after the intense boss battle. My eyes were looking up to the starry night. The sky was cloudless, and shining white twinkling stars were giving the harmony to the blackness. As if each of them represented those who had fallen in that game. "And they had to go through a hundred of these. I wonder how they manage to find the courage to go through all of them."

If there were anything, I should've known this better. I was also in a battle myself. A losing one.

"Humans are wonderful creatures you know." Yuuki replied. "You can always find people who defy every odds and expectations that everybody, even themselves, set upon them."

Hmm.

She was not wrong. You could find those individuals everywhere on the Net. Information travels fast nowadays. But it didn't help when these achievements were so high up there that it usually intimidated others. What I wanted to know was how they achieved so. What made them able to shake off all the worries, pain and hell they had to go through to achieve such greatness?

"But humans can scare me sometimes." Yuuki continued, her tone changed drastically. I was taken aback with the change of subject. What was she saying?

"How?" That was the best I could answer.

"I kind of have some bad vibes associated with some of my former 'friends'."

The emphasis on the word 'friends' was especially intriguing and sorrowful. It didn't sound like Yuuki actually regarded them as friends. But really? It was hard to believe. A girl full of confidence, cheerfulness, kind, helpful, though a little annoying sometimes, and was never afraid of the prospect of meeting other people, was afraid of other humans?

"Mhm." I put my hand on my lips. "If you don't mind me asking…"

Yuuki stopped . For a moment, it was as if she just logged out of the game. She did not move. She did not speak. She just stood there, silent and motionless like a statue.

I knew it was bad memories, but I didn't bring myself to say she need not say it. We had both agreed on each other, that we were free to speak our minds whenever we are comfortable about it. And if she was trying to find the comfortness to talk about it, then I'd give her that. I'd patiently wait for her to find it. I'd provide her with what she wanted to get for her to freely speak up. And most importantly I'd not be demanding. Just like how she did it to me earlier.

A while passed, and she finally turned around. Her eyes looked straight into mine, as deep as any oceans could go. I knew that familiar look. She was reading me. And I wanted to show her just that. Through only the locking of gazes, I must convey what no mere words could describe earnestly enough.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

It was perhaps the longest period of time when I did not blink for once during an eye contact. But I tried my best to get my point across. The silence wasn't at all empty, yet it was calming. Despite normally disliking silence for its inexpressive nature, I eventually found some beauty in the seconds when the wisdom of the soul is being touched.

Finally, her words shattered the calmness.

"You aren't fair at all."

"What?"

I didn't expect that.

"How you look at me. It isn't something that I could beat."

"Then I managed to convey my point?"

A ghost of a smile appeared on her lips. But it soon vanished.

"Let's just say that during my elementary years, I was a sickly child, usually bedridden and hospitalized." Then she began. My eyes involuntarily widened. I couldn't say I was not prepared for this, but hearing her saying it for herself like this, nobody would be ready for something they did not know beforehand. Her voice was weak, it could fade any moment.

"I was still able to come to school regularly, but…"

"But?"

A sigh escaped her lips. The next thing to be uttered was perhaps the most toxic and angriest thing I had ever heard someone like Yuuki said.

"A group of students at school found out about my condition. One of whom was supposed to be one of my best friends. Then…"

I already had a familiar vibe about this.

"Things spiralled out. Instead of wishing me well, they instead began to spread rumors about me and my family. I don't even want to go into the details about what rumors they spread. Just nasty stuff…"

Her fists clenched, shaking in fury.

"One day, when I finally returned to school after a while being treated, I realized I had lost all my friends I had made in the course of four years. From there, I was all by myself, being feared and hated, because…"

Because they feared that she would spread whatever disease she had. I've heard of that too often. But no matter how much I could take into me, that did little to mitigate the malice. Absolutely horrible. Patient stigmatization. It was more common that we think, but I couldn't believe that she also had to go through such things. Knowing that these kids were in elementary, they probably was not educated enough, but still. Discriminating someone just because of conditions that hell knows if he or she is even responsible for it is an absolutely degrading action and the person doing it is nothing less of a piece of trash.

"So I was forced to transfer to another school. And I never saw those 'friends' I had ever again."

Yeah, I was glad she did not. They did not deserve to be her friends.

"After that experience, I sometimes grew scared of other people, especially those who are not that close to me. In fear that the same thing may occur again. I just…don't want to deal with them one more time."

I was speechless. I realized how lucky I had been ever since. You couldn't say that being diagnosed with ALS is a lucky thing, but at least the cause is not known most of the time. No one, at least in my known family tree, was ever diagnosed, and I was known to sustain a healthy lifestyle up until diagnosis. Nobody knew how I got it and due to the brutal nature of the illness, naturally, they would sympathize. There were a few who pitied me, which I really hated, but they were the outliers. They were educated enough to not be such assholes.

"But then I try not to care." All of a sudden, her tone lightened. She forced out a weak smile to clear the sorrowful atmosphere. "And just continue on."

I knew she had moved on from it, but I didn't. I couldn't help but feel angry for her. She didn't deserve to be stigmatized. She did nothing wrong. She helped brought sunshines to everybody's faces. Why would everything had to be so unfair in this world? It depressed me just by the thought of it. Those who didn't deserve cruelty got it anyway, while those who deliberately hurt others with malice just lived with it without much consequences. It is no fairy tales that parents usually tell little kids it is.

But didn't Yuuki consider me a friend back when we were having fun at Alne City? She said it, and even added me as her friend. How many friends did she have in ALO, aside from me and the Sleeping Knights? Did she trust me enough that she put me through to be one of her true friends, or she was just saying so for convenience's sake, that she hadn't really seen if I was worthier than those jerks back then? Those were the questions that flooded my mind.

"Yuuki-kun…"

But in any cases…

"You have a friend. A true friend. I know this sounds meaningless and empty right now, but…"

I had to show her that I am the kind of person who she defined me to be. A friend in need, that she could share her problems with. If she could lift the burdens off my shoulders, then I could too.

"I won't judge you for anything. I won't press you. And I won't betray you. Ever. I know this is on you, but I just want to let you know that you can drop your fear whenever you are with me…Because-"

"We're friends." Yuuki finished my sentence. I could see a smile forming. On both our lips.

Yeah. We're friends…true ones. And we'd act like it.

* * *

It was as if we grew closer by the seconds. I began to take a more casual and cheerful tone whenever I talked to Yuuki. We began to joke a lot more. And I began to be able to counter her illogical thinking somehow, by using the same logic against her. And we also began to talk more ALO stuff, sharing information that we barely ever told anyone else.

The night began to grow. White dots in the sky continued to color the sky as it took shape. One scene that could only be seen in games or in movies. Far far away I could see hundreds of galaxies, formed by a huge number of these white dots that no human eyes could dictate how many there was. And it was displayed in one dome, just for the two of us to witness. It was a magnificent and magical scene to be looking at.

"Where are we anyway?" I asked, both myself and Yuuki. It became apparent that we didn't even have a destination. We were just wandering around mindlessly, engulfed in our own conversation with each other.

"Huh?" She also came to the realization.

We were at the edge of the floor. The pathway continued to circled into the centre, followed by the stone balcony, which stood at Yuuki's chest level. As we walked to the balcony, we discovered something that was as grand and luminescent as the infinite sky. This was the open area I was talking about, where you could manually enter or exit the new Aincrad as we wished.

"It's so beautiful…" I uttered.

And below us was the entirety of the ALO map. I was honestly unprepared. I had read through the map of ALO a couple of times. I could imagine, academically, what ALO would look like from a certain height. But I wasn't really expecting to see the entirety of where I had been living on for the last year. A small rock being held together in the middle of the vast infinite ocean floor. And there, eight distinct colors were decorating this rock, representing eight different races living on this world. It looked so vulnerable, yet beautiful by the way it was.

"It is, isn't it?" Yuuki said. "It feels like you're in space and looking back at our dear home. Not through any photographs, but through your very own eyes. There's something so romantic about it."

"Mhm." I nodded softly. I couldn't help but agreed. In fact, I couldn't agree more with her comment. From this place, I could almost forget that I was living in a world with different people, different races with different goals, boundaries and conflicts. From here, it was just Alfheim, a world of elves, on a green rock held afloat by the vast ocean. It's just a beautiful thing to be witnessing right now, together…

Together.

That moment I came to realize how quiet the night had grown. The clock ticked softly a minute passed ten. Everyone had all but gone, presumably to rest for the day, returning the street to nature's hand, and to the two of us to enjoy. Only Yuuki and I, under the extravagant show of light.

I felt my body tensed a little bit. A knot seemed to form inside my torso. My breathe seemed to gain weight somehow, as my irises continuously glanced to my right, and then down, then to the right again. It ceased to stop. To the point when I had to incline to force myself to stop. My hand gently budged from my thigh, placing it onto the coarse cobblestone balcony. Or that was what I thought would be.

Something small, and of a familiar shape, made contact with my palm. Smooth, soft, delicate and warm. My heart seemed to miss a beat. A total coincidence or was intentionally done? I did not know. But all I knew was my hand was on top of Yuuki's. I wasn't seeing it for myself, but my mind began to go blank.

My hand curled up slightly in reluctance, brushing through her fingers gently. I didn't think this would be appropriate, or at least what she would want. But to my surprise, instead of retracting her hand, Yuuki proceeded to weave hers with mine. Fingers by fingers, until we were fully connected.

Throughout the moment, we weren't looking at each other, but I felt my desire running from the depths of my heart to my chest and then to my small palm.

This was our first date.

Never did I realize it until now. But it was any ideal date one could probably wish for.


	9. Chapter 9: The Birth of Absolute Sword

**My God. Editing this chapter is a nightmare, as my computer continuously gave up on me with its Grammarly scripts. There may be multiple grammar errors, so I sincerely apologize if that disturbs you.**

 **It has been quite a long time since I posted. Don't worry I'm not dead. It's just that this chapter is more of a filler and explanatory episode to some canon events. The relevance of this chapter to my main plot is not all that important. It is mostly for the sheer pleasure of seeing sword fights and see how canon details being explained. I hope I satisfy it though. I know the two-person quest thing is a lot contrived, but I just want the two of them alone for this one. I'm a sucker at dramatic ending seriously, since nothing really is at stake right now. It's a video game, mostly for plain fun. So bear with me there for those two details. The next chapter shall mostly be plot points, and more on our main character's disease.**

 **I hope you guys enjoy, and hopefully the next chapter would be of a reasonable length. See you then!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own SAO or any of its world and characters**

* * *

Chapter 9: The Birth of Absolute Sword

April 7, 2025

"Hah!"

My blade once again radiated brightly, this time in a lime green color, as I delivered a hail of sword thrust into a metallic tower shield. The wielder of this shield, the large Gnome member of the Sleeping Knights, was forced to take a few steps back as the blades were relentless in ferocity. After the attack, the post-motion effect began to kick in. I felt stiffened. The feeling when despite what you attempt, your body wouldn't listen to you. What I was trying to get used to.

But thankfully, the feeling did not last long. More than a second at most. During that time, Tecchi was still taking his time recovering from my last attack. As a speedster, having given the opponent a piece of my own expertise, I had to disengage from him. I could not let him close in on me. Bringing my blade to my hip level, pointing diagonally downward and to the outside, I again went into the pre-motion sequence. My saber glowed again, this time in bright orange, as I slashed upward, in the opposite direction of where my sword was pointing at. It was only one simple slash, but its power was unmatched by any unassisted swing, sending Tecchi stumbling a few steps back.

"Whew. That went better than I had expected."

I did not screw up my sword skills like last time. If I could keep this up, I could actually win!

Tecchi didn't seem bothered one bit by my attack, as he stood up firmly, his mace banging onto his shield a few times. He gave me a hearty smile as he gazed directly into my eyes. An exchange of impression. Then, when I most expected, he stormed at me with his mace held high, his tower shield at the front. For a second, I thought he was no different from a rhino running at full speed.

Lesson learned from the Illfang boss fight: never go head to head with a tank. It's more common sense really though. He's just too powerful for any speedsters to hit him head-on, so I'd have to flee for now. The cave wasn't really a good place to maneuver, but luckily it was spacious enough to whirl around a little bit.

"Come on…"

I made my dash around the large glowing gem, trying to outpace his movements, but the man was faster than I imagined. He stopped for a second, but a push of his foot he was already facing me, who was careless not noticing him coming around the corner. With a swing of his mace, he forced a block out of me. But thankfully, I wasn't at a passive stance. I could recover nicely. I gave him a kick to the stomach to dislodge his mace from my sword. Once freed, I fled, and yet again he pursued.

It looked a little like a bullfight session, but for the next minute, our roles were evidently clear. Tecchi was on the offensive, while I was trying to dodge his ram. While his weapon did not necessarily deal much damage to a normal player due to his tankish defensive build, I was not the average 'normal' player here. If little was at stakes, and you could avoid hits, why the hell not?

I checked the timer nearby. A minute and thirty seconds remaining. His health portion was still higher than mine. By a great margin. So far I had not had a direct hit on him yet, due to his top-to-bottom protection. If I couldn't land one on him…well…I'd have to hit him a million times more like this to put him down to my health level. Sounds like a fun task.

I stopped at an empty space, as Tecchi was still pursuing me with his shield raised and his mace ready to strike me at any moment I let my guard down. Ok, if I could make use of his momentum to stab his back, then I could end this easily enough with the Howling Octave sword skills.

"Alright."

Come on. Have it at me.

As he charged right at me, the moment he raised the mace, I simultaneously ducked and jumped forward to the side. His colossal silhouette stampeded past me as I narrowly dodged him. He had fallen for it. Time to end this!

What was the attack pre-motion? Sword to hip level, facing forward and bend my arm ninety degrees? Got it.

Without a saying, I got to the procedure, placing my hand at exactly where I wanted it to be. And without delays, my sword shone brightly, as the system recognized my posture. I let myself loose, as I allowed the game to take control of my body for the next few seconds. Strength flowed to every corners of my body. I was ready to finish this off.

But again!

"Wait wait!"

This isn't Howling Octave!

Instead of delivering a fatal lightning fast barrage of sword stabs to his back, I instead slashed four times in a square shape. Two of whom missed the target.

And to make things worse…

BANG!

Tecchi was not stunned by the attack. He casually turned around and banged his mace onto my face, sending me tumbling to the deck. My health bar moved from right to left, the color changing from healthy green to an old leave yellow as it passed the half mark. And since this is not a duel to the death or a game to see who's the first to bleed, you know what that means…

 **Duel finished. Winner: Tecchi**

The game's duel interface popped up before the two of us, with Tecchi's avatar being highlighted.

Damn it, I lost like five duels now. Six if I count Yuuki's unofficial duel when we were training Satsuki. This new sword skill system is downgrading my win rate hard.

"Nice job as always Tecchi!" Jun gave the burly Gnome a thumbs-up as he complimented him.

"Thanks." Tecchi replied with a smile before turning to me. He bent over, extending his hand to me.

"Good game man." He shared with me a sporty remark. "You almost got me there if you had used some other skills there."

"Did you mess up the skill's pre-motion or something, Hirano-san?" Asked the Salamander.

"Yeah, I did." I laughed it off as I took Tecchi's hand. "Man, this is easy to mix up. What was the Howling Octave again?"

"It is sword to shoulder, bend arm horizontally." Jun replied

"Oh…" I nodded my head. I screwed that up. "Ok someone deserves to lose that game."

"Come on, don't be harsh on yourself. You improved since the last time you died tragically to the floor one boss."

Urgh…

"Please don't remind me of that moment again." I irked, as oth of them chuckled at my reaction. Even the slightest mention of the occasion sent the sensation back to my body. The violent spin and the unfettered G forces shot to my brain in one go. Why was that the thing that my memory liked to keep store of, instead of all these sword skill's pre-motion stances?

Audibly, I could hear some gigglings in the distance. Speaking of my death to the ugly kangaroo…

"Hahahaha! Replay that part again!"

"Oh, play it at half speed! It gets even better!"

"Oh my god! I'm dying right now!"

Are you serious?

"Are you guys still laughing at my death? That's like the eighth fucking time I've seen you doing that!" I yelled.

"Sorry Hirano-san! But I can't just stop laughing right now!" Siune was drowning in her own giggles.

"I need a dosage of this everyday. Pure medicine to keep the doctors away!" Nori appeared to be dying in her laughter - hell I predict she would actually die due to coughing or shortness of breathe - as well as Talken, whom I couldn't even tell if he was laughing or crying, or both.

"Well played Hirano-san." The only person to remain a rational human being was Yuuki. But that was after being through that state for the last three times I see her! Well played my ass!

"You guys are such masochists." Jun too laughed jokingly, bringing me onto the plate for ridicule. But thankfully he did not slice me to pieces. "But Yuuki, do you remember to do the Wolf Hunt quest today?"

Oh yeah, Yuuki did tell me about that. It is a two-person per quest, but multiple quests could be done synchronously, so we were set to leave once the quest was near its opening time, simply to be at the forefront, since everybody would be swarming into the quest like ants. The price reward was indeed too sweet to miss.

"Oh no…" She shuddered in realization. I knew it. "Oh no!"

I knew this would happen.

"It's already half an hour in!" She bolted up from where she was sitting, yelping in horror, her hands clenching her head tight.

"Well, it's not too late, Yuuki-san. If we can do it quickly enough. I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have cleared it yet." Siune said.

I had heard about the quest. It was a one-time only quest. And not just one time only for each of the every players in ALO. It was for the fastest duo out there. If one completes the quest, everything's over. So that's why the importance of punctuation in these situations could not be stressed enough. But even with that drilled in their heads, they still managed to forget it.

"As the quest is a non-repeatable for two players, winner takes all kind of thing, I guess it is more of a search quest than a battle quest. If we are smart enough, we could outpace others quickly enough." Jun explained.

I very much agreed with his logic, though could we outsmart like…a few dozen players? Well, we may as well could, since the players in ALO weren't exactly the brightest. They weren't noobs per say, but there were many occasions when they failed what they shouldn't be failing. I wouldn't get my hopes up for this one, but one could always try.

* * *

Right?

"Oh my goodness." I uttered palely.

That wasn't a few dozens. More like a hundred.

The entirety of the Sleeping Knights reappeared in a cold mountainous region in the far north of the ALO map, particularly at a small village at the foot of a mountain itself. Clusters of thick clouds that extended to the heavens erased every bit of warmth from the artificial sun that the game provided us, and on the while, flakes of frozen water sprinkled on us, dangling through our hair strands and melting away at the contact with our skins. Despite the lack of clear sky, from our position, I could see small silhouettes of people from afar, either flying through the air or wandering around in the mountain. I did not count accurately, but I could estimate at around a hundred were committed to this one. And this was just the visible part of the mountain.

"This doesn't look too optimistic to me." I said, a little discouraged at the sight. "Do you guys want to go ahead with it?"

Yuuki instantly shot at me like a bullet.

"Of course we will! We've planned this far already!"

Yeah sure, though it was highly likely that the prize would already be seized by the time we knew what we were going up against.

"I don't think it'll be futile though." Siune said. "We still have a chance. Don't be discouraged."

I watched as the rest of the members nodded in agreement, and then briefly glanced back at the mountain. Well ok, if they were so unanimous, then who am I to stop them.

"Ok! Let us divide into teams of twos for this one!" Yuuki cheerfully guided us.

I watched as the guys picked their teammate for this quest. Jun immediately placed his hand on Talken's shoulder, as the latter held his weapon close to his body. Siune and Nori also moved close to each other. Those left were Tecchi, Yuuki and me. Ever since my inclusion as a guild member, the number of guildmate had been an uncomfortable prime seven. It was only good for boss raiding, as the maximum number of players in a party is seven. Other than that, any activities that needed to divide the members into smaller teams always result in uneven groups.

Before I could choose between the two, an arm suddenly wrapped around my own.

"Ok it's been decided! Let's go!" Yuuki declared as she pulled me closer.

I could feel as if butterflies were wrecking in my stomach, but now it was best to keep it in.

With the team issue settled, we headed for the NPC who was in charge of this quest. A burly man with a bushy white beard standing at the center of the small town.

"12000 Yrds for the head of the Eldwood's White Wolf! Come adventurers! Come! Don't miss your opportunity!"

Unlike most NPCs, who only deliver the quests once the players had made contact with them, this guy was actively advertising it to anyone who passed by the town centre. Of course, this was much programmed into their core already, to continuously made their speech even if no one was there to hear it. And it was exactly what was going on. Everyone that was interested in the quest had already departed. Those who remained in the square was either the NPCs or the merchant players. We were seemingly the last one in line.

Seven of us headed to the burly guy to strike up a conversation.

"Good day sir." I opened, drawing his attention.

"Hello, young one. I trust that you are going for the booty, aren't you?" The pre-programmed dialogues instantaneously voiced out as soon as he recognized my approach.

"Yes." I replied shortly.

"Please sign up near the desk on that side of the square, thank you." He pointed to the said direction, at a middle-aged lady with shouldered white hair, as the conversation came to a close.

Rolling my eyes, I headed to where he said I should go to.

"Ah. You are up for the wolf hunt sir?" The old lady asked me.

"Yes, ma'am. Just tell us what we need to do." I said.

"Good, very good. We, the townspeople of Argana, are actually searching for this mythical creature: The White Wolf of Eldwood. This creature has been known to be responsible for hundreds of disappearance of adventurers into the mountain. And yet we could not find a concrete evidence whether it is real or no." The NPC began her story. "We were frightened for the safety of our citizens. But recently, we are able to trace it down…"

I raised one of my eyebrows in a 'uh-huh' kind of response. These NPCs can be a little unnecessary in its exposition, but ah well, people who were interested in the background behind it could care.

"We are now certain that the wolf is not a god, but flesh and blood. So I ask of you adventurers. Confront and bring the wolf's head back to our town, and we'll be utterly grateful."

As that was said, a notification popped right in front of me and Yuuki.

 **Accept quest: Wolf Hunt?**

 **Yes/No**

I immediately pressed yes. The notification disappeared, replaced by yet another one.

 **Quest: Wolf Hunt**

 **Begin!**

"There we go," Yuuki said, as purplish hues concentrated into two shapes looking alike to the blades of a propeller behind her back. "Come on Hirano-san! Let's not waste any more time!"

"Hmm." I nodded as I also materialized my Sylph wings. Before I flew off, I turned back to the guys.

"We'll be heading off now. Good luck you guys."

Everyone gave me either thumbs-up or a nod pervaded with confidence, and not without the accompany of a big smile. With that said, we both flew off into the mountain, searching for this white wolf.

We flew over multiple players, in groups of twos, who were either searching for something or making short works of other monsters in the way. Most of these monsters were forest elements, though there were a few ice ones, as this was a pretty cold region to be living in. But I couldn't hide my curiosity when I saw a few players battling what I could figure as wolves as well. And they were white.

That doesn't look like the final objective of the quest. The quest was said to be a one-time completion for whoever is the fastest couple to fulfill the objectives. It couldn't be that easy.

"Hey, Yuuki-kun!" I nevertheless called out to Yuuki, as we both stopped mid-air. "We should consider planning what we intend to do rather than just flying around like this."

"Yeah, you're right." She nodded a few times. As said, we both descended to the mountain slope. "But where do we even start?"

"I think it has something to do with the wolves out there. I mean they do have characteristics that fit the prize we are looking for, though I doubt it is." I speculated.

"Maybe the Eldwood's wolf is the leader of the pack or something."

"I'd say likely so. Then…" I caressed my lips. "If they are in packs, then we ought to look for their den."

"Den?" Yuuki tilted her head slightly.

"Yeah, den. Like a small cave or burrow. That's where natural wolves usually live." I explained

"Then we should go…deeper…I guess." She suggested, though with a little head scratch. This didn't seem to be her expertise. Or rather a fifteen-year-old who spent twenty-four hours in games.

"Yeah, you usually do. It's not gonna be an underground thing, so just look for caves." I said, simplifying it as much as possible for her.

"Sounds like a plan."

* * *

"Hirano-san. Do you hear something?" Yuuki suddenly stopped me.

I ceased my next step. My senses heightened at the question.

"Yeah. It sounds like a wounded animal." I answered. It was a subtle sound, but could squeeze any human's heart tight, assuming that they have one.

"It's right ahead. Hold on let me go check." Yuuki told me before speeding ahead into the bushes, whilst I look around, keeping a close eye on whatever monsters or players who may be lurking around here. Moments later, a whisper of a yell came from where she had disappeared into.

"Hirano-san! Come here! You have to see this!"

My curiosity bounced up and down. What could that be?

I opened my tracker, looking for Yuuki's footsteps, just in case she went too deep. She didn't though. A few strides and I could see her crouching behind a large bush like a ninja waiting for the prey.

"Come." She whispered, her fingers moving back and forth at me.

My knees bent, I hunched over like an inelegant ape as I moved over next to Yuuki. A wolf, the same white wolf, came into view, with one of its back legs being clamped upon by a steel jaw, connected to a chain that locked the poor creature in its place. It was trying to yank out the trap, but the steel cold mechanism mercilessly sank its sharp teeth into its flesh. The wolf seemed to be at its limits now, still standing strong in its will to free itself, but its physicality was waning quickly.

"Poor little creature." I uttered with pity.

"What should we do with it?" Yuuki turned to me.

What should I do? I wasn't sure myself. The most obvious one would be to end its misery and reap a small reward of Yrds, and perhaps a few items that may drop from it, considering it was hostile anyway. But it didn't seem harmful to anyone right now. It was wounded, its health was draining slowly under the half mark. And besides, bringing down the guillotine's blade at such a wounded creature would simply be inhumane in nature. It's cruel. I know that this was merely a game, and that the wolf was simply a mindless pre-programmed computer algorithm trying to mimic the real thing. But in this world, as the line between reality and fantasy blurred, so was my perceptions. And even if I didn't, the empathy and conscience of a human being wouldn't allow me to end its misery, when I could totally be doing something else. Something human.

And I decided to be one.

"I'll help it." I told Yuuki as I stood up from the bush. Without waiting for her to reply, I stepped forward.

The creature recognized a nearby player. Having identified me as hostile, it immediately turned its fangs over to my direction. Its eyes locked with fury, as its pointy scary teeth displayed full view. It did well to make me halt, but nevertheless did none to make me stop.

"Easy now."

I had my hand in front of me, my blade out of sight as I took a step forward. And again. And again. One at a time. Forward.

This was somewhat familiar, just like the first time I ever approach an alarmed dog everytime I visited a friend's house back school. That guy did have a sensitive dog for sure, treating me like an invader to its territories. It probably hadn't gotten used to me yet, even now. But I did remember that moment, when I backed away at any subtle movement, with my skin crawling in fear of being wolved down at any moment.

But I eventually got over it. And I would too now. Another step forward, I felt the urge to run, but forced myself to counter it, against my instinct.

The roars were ferocious and frightening initially but gradually softened as I left myself open to any attacks. If you were to approach dogs, you ought not to be defensive, but rather open to any of its approaches to get to know you. And I assumed it would be the same for wolves. When I finally got in the range of its mercy, the creature finally stood up straight, or at least try to, instead of bending its back in predatorial stance.

"Sit tight." I uttered softly, as my palm slowly shifted over to the steel jaw. Initially a soft touch, and then holding it firmly. With several wrenches, I eventually pulled the jaw apart, for just a slight bit to free the wolf's limb from the grasp.

Freed of the torment, the wolf suddenly walked toward me and dug its head onto my body. Its once hostile red eyes soon turned into a friendly white that humans usually see.

"Hey hey. Easy." I said as I run my fingers through its thick white fur, my tone all lifted of the fears I had before for the creature that would usually be deemed as the greatest predators of the wild. Right now, it looked nothing like a house pet dog, but a little bigger, cuddling in the warmth of its owner, or in my case its savior.

"Wow…" From behind came Yuuki, who was in awe at the display. "That's so awesome! I would be quite frightened if I ever have to approach a wolf myself."

"I'm actually quite scared myself at first," I admitted. "Though it isn't so bad once you take the first step."

"Though I don't recall the trap being an in-game item." Yuuki noted. "This obviously isn't the work of players."

"Well…"

Now that she mentioned it, she was absolutely spot on. Traps like this hadn't really been a purchasable nor a dungeon item from the very start of the game, and not even now. It simply was an inaccessible item. So the wolf wasn't exactly trapped there for easy killing…There could only be one explanation for this.

"The wolf may be a lead to our main objective." I blurted out.

The white wolf, after snuggling in gratitude to me, its savior, took a step backward and turned around as it walked up the mountain. But it didn't immediately disappear like the ending of 'The Life of Pi'. Instead, with every few steps it took, the wolf would turn its head around over to us, as if it was expecting us something.

"I think we should follow it." Yuuki said, on the same wavelength as me.

I didn't have any disagreements, so I did exactly what she said. The wolf didn't really wait for us, perhaps due to its algorithmic nature, as it only turned its head around a few times, assuming we followed it already. Around ten minutes later, we arrived at the location that we had been searching for.

It was quite a large den. In fact, it was a small rocky cave itself. But the path there was not at all paved with red carpets all the way. There wasn't even a road for those carpets anyway. You had to go through a hill full of deadly poisonous carnivorous flowers lurking around, and the cave was well-hidden behind a group of bushes and trees. No wonder why people couldn't find this. It was quite a place. But sooner or later it would be.

The wolf casually strutted into the den, while we were quite hesitant. For all my kindness toward that particular wolf, they may still be hostile. And they were savage and vicious predators. Fighting off one may be viable, but fending off a whole pack would be quite difficult. But for all I know, this should be an in-game feature. They wouldn't make this for nothing.

And so we stepped into the cave ourselves. Before us, from the shadows emerged an entity we could feast our eyes upon for an eternity. A lupine being towering over our shoulders, standing over a multiple of around eight young cubs at the back, its silky silver-white fur radiated with celestial power. The lime green pair of eyes stared down on us puny beings, though with the looks I deemed far different from a look of hostility. And then all of a sudden.

"I have yet to know who you are, but as was told by my youngling here, I must thank you, children."

It actually spoke. Not through the physical, but perhaps through a magical force. The deep and gradual tone attested layers of philosophy.

"No problem." I replied shortly, as the creature continued.

"I haven't met a creature like you two before. Considering how many of my children have been slaughtered by those elves."

Well, not by the players at least.

"Allow me to inquire. Are you two also here to kill me?"

I knew this may have come up. I decided to be honest with it.

"I was instructed to. But you don't seem like the monster people portrays you to."

"It is because I am not." The large wolf replied. "It is those elves that intend to invade my territory."

The wolf turned around to look at the cubs. "This Eldwood has been the territory for us wolves for generations. And it has remained so until very recently. Very recently, when the elves decided to make this place their homes."

Contrary to the story of the old woman down at the town square, I was actually intrigued at this side of the story.

"You see, the reason for the disappearance of these adventurers is because they are seeking for us. They are hunting us down for the cheap gold coins that I don't know why people crave over it so much." It said. "Dozens of my children has already perished to their swords, and it seems like they are trying to go for the killing blow this time."

"So all that they've been doing" Yuuki joined in. "Was driving innocent wildlife to extinction?"

The wolf did not reply. But silence did not mean no.

"Then is there anything we could do to assist?"

A moment of silence. And then.

"I don't know what you two could do otherwise. As my pack is being driven to the brink now, I will attempt a last resort. But it will take time. If you could prevent the outsiders from interfering, I could very well go along with the plan."

Just as it finished the dialogue, a notification popped up in front of us.

 **Accept Quest: The Hands of Mother Nature.**

 **Yes/No**

At first, we didn't hesitate to click yes. But then a warning sign came up.

 **If you accept this quest, then Wolf Hunt will end. Are you sure you want to proceed?**

 **Yes/No**

"Wait, so does this mean you have to fight off against every other players in this game?" Yuuki asked.

"It does sound like it," I said. "It's quite daunting."

"What are you talking about? This is great! I've always wanted to take the position of a juggernaut!"

I facepalmed internally. Anything could excite this girl apparently.

"Ok, why not then?" But I didn't try to argue with her. I didn't really want to argue with such sunshine.

* * *

Regardless of the seemingly heart-racing and muscle-tensing action sequence, we decided to play this strategically. To lessen the amount of time we had to fight other players, Yuuki decided to cloak the den's entrance with her cloaking magic. It did look somewhat convincing at first glance, but I doubt people would be fooled on close inspection.

"What a twist don't you think?" Yuuki laughed as we sat down on a rock together near the wolves. The young cubs were sleeping while the large white wolf seemed to be contemplating something. Should not bother it.

"To think that this is an actual feature of the game, I kind of have to give the developers a job well done." I replied.

"How long was the time again?" She asked.

"Over an hour."

"Whoo. I guess we have only one course of action to do." She said, accompanied with a sigh, as she straightened her legs lazily out like a beach-goer.

I could relate. In fact, we didn't last that long without engaging in a conversation.

"Say Hirano-san." Yuuki became the first to engage with me. "You're pursuing art, right? What do you intend to do as an artist later?"

I bit my lower lip. "It's not a definite future, but I want to become more of a traditional painter. I've always liked fine painting."

"Wow. I know some of my former classmates who actually want to become an artist like you! You know, the ones who like to sit behind a canvas with the thing on their hands and a beret on their heads." She replied excitedly.

"That's somewhat stereotypical." I chuckled at her imagination, the typical impression that only comes from the uninformed

"You know what, you'd look perfect with a beret." Yuuki remarked. "You then just have to act like a dandy king, and then nobody can mistake you!"

I couldn't help but burst out laughing. A little bitter as if I was taking a pill. Perhaps I could become that image, but I still wasn't convinced that I would be able to.

"Though I could go for something more applied. But that was the far future. Hell, I'm not even sure if I'm gonna be able to pursue it till the end."

"Why not?" Her smile suddenly turned into a frown.

"...I'm not too confident in myself." I said, my eyes looking at the ground.

"Come on, don't be so pessimistic." Yuuki slapped my shoulder. "I haven't seen your skills yet. Show me, and I'll evaluate it for you."

I know whether good or bad I drew, she'd give me some positive notes anyway. But fine. There was no harm in doing it, and it was something I enjoyed myself.

"Ok then. But what should I…" I looked around the cave for some usable and absorbable spots. This was by no means an ideal environment for drawing, but I could possibly make do with a piece of coal or something like that.

Looking over the pile of rocks on the other side of the cave, I noticed a black piece of coal mixed among them. Just the one that I needed, I reached out to the thing. As the rocks were in no ways flat enough to sustain a beautiful drawing, I had to use my Hand Mirror instead. Not on the glass surface, but rather the back side.

As if by instinct, after pulling the Hand Mirror out, I placed it on the ground instead, the glass side facing the rocks, while my left hand gripped tightly on the wrist of my right, which was holding the coal.

"You have a weird posture." I didn't even realize it until Yuuki pointed it out. Yeah, this wasn't the real world. I could still move with ease.

"No no. I…" I stuttered in front of the confused Yuuki. But then like a child caught lying, no words escaped my lips, so I instead just kept my mouth shut, and silently corrected myself. Now I held the mirror with my left hand and my thigh while my right hand did the work.

A strange, alien yet so day-to-day, feeling engulfed me, as soon as my hands started sketching. From my shoulder to elbow, wrist and then palm and my five fingers, their coordination was all smooth and well done, even though I was not a stranger to this. The movement was beyond exquisite, and the touch was spot on. Without any restrictions placed upon me, the topic of my artwork was soon made clear.

"Ah…"

I heard the girl next to me uttering softly, but I continued on nonetheless. The piece of coal cooperated surprisingly well. In just minutes, I already had it done for display.

"Here." I handed the mirror, the finished product, to her. She seemed at a lost for words for a while.

"Is that me?" Then she softly inquired.

I glanced away briefly.

"Yeah. I can't really come up with something different from a portrait."

My specialty was supposed to be landscape painting, but it wasn't a min-max thing. I could do others well, and since the piece of coal was not a pencil, I'd only have that as an option.

"This is beautiful!" Then the gate burst open. "You should have this publicized now! You'd be famous in no time!"

"Calm down calm down." I said, a smile crossing my lips to the positivity. I wasn't really unprepared for this, but hearing her saying it for real was indeed uplifting.

"I'm serious! This is the best portrait of me I have ever seen! And you did that in less than ten minutes. It's…it's just amazing." She said with pure earnest.

Now that's because it's likely that no one has ever portrayed her before.

"It's quite different in real life though. I am…not this good in the real world."

Because I have that goddamned disease that is robbing me of everything I had once capable of doing.

"Really? It's hard to believe."

I shook my head.

"It's the truth. It's a lot more complicated than you think."

And more brutal…

"So what are you gonna do about it?" She asked.

"I am not sure myself. I am not sure to give it up or just continue on with it."

My reply seemed to strike a chord or something. I half expected her to say something positive like you should continue regardless of circumstances or some shit like that, like how everyone would say it to my face. I honestly wouldn't be surprised. But no. It was not at all a naive response.

"I know this sounds a little idealistic of me, but if you are thinking about giving up on it, how about trying to do something a little differently. Something that you have never done before."

Huh?

"What do you mean by that?" Was my initial response. To my even bigger surprise, she simply smiled.

"You can figure that out by yourself. Once you get back to the real world."

* * *

What she meant by that I couldn't figure out, as the topic never became prevalent again in our conversation. Before we know it, over three-quarters of the one hour limit had come to pass. As for the remaining quarter?

"Do you hear something?" Yuuki slapped my thigh, pulling me back to Earth.

Sounds of rattling leaves. Not very far from here. Did someone discover our camouflage?

"Stay here I'll check it out." I told Yuuki before standing up.

Before I could reach the entrance, somebody had already barged through it. Or rather two people. One person was a huge Gnome wielding a huge two-sided axe. One could say he is Tecchi version 2.0, but with a more bushy hair and grumpy wrinkled skin. And for sure he didn't look as peaceful as him. The other one was a young male Undine with shoulder length hair, wielding a short sword and shield.

"What is this place?" The large man asked in awe, "And who are you?" and then stared at me irritably.

"I'm just a normal quest doer." I lied. "There's nothing here to find."

"Ho?" The Gnome scoffed. "You are either a terrible liar or a complete retard. Because you can't hide that thing behind you there."

"Well…"

I should stop trying to deceive people. It only made me look like a fool.

"Now stop trolling me and get out of the way." He berated as he pushed me aside.

"Wait!" I yelled out to him. "I'm sorry sir but you're not touching that wolf."

"The fuck are you trying to say to me kid?" He growled in definite anger.

"You heard me."

That appeared to have tipped him off.

"Then go to hell." Was his war cry before he ran at me. Oh fuck. I got carried away with all the distraction I forgot that I was in a cave. A narrow claustrophobic cave. Any speedster's nightmare.

I was about to have my ass kicked when all of a sudden, from behind the Gnome, unveiling from the cloaking magic, a flash of purple illuminated the dimly lit cave. The small petite middle school girl jumped out of her hiding spot like a crocodile lunging out of the water clutching on its prey. With utmost precision and mercilessness, she slashed the large Gnome thrice before ending it with a stab to the heart from the back, her blade visible from my side.

The burly guy was definitely shocked, stumbling three steps forward to me.

"You brat!" He roared as he turned over to face his attacker.

But that would be his last word for this life though. Long before he even had the intention to counterattack, I unsheathed my saber and whipped directly onto his exposed neck. It was unfair I know, but he wasn't being at all courteous to earn that.

His health dropped to zero in seconds, as his body disappeared into tiny shards, leaving behind a bright yellow spiritual flame.

Having finished him off, we turned to his partner. But unlike his deceased fellow…

"H-Help!" He instantaneously discarded his weapon and charged out of the den like a scared chicken.

I tried to catch up to him, but by the time I got to the entrance, he had already flown out of sight. This guy is quick to run away.

"Our location is compromised." I declared. "I bet they'd be flocking here in no time."

"Oooh, I'm quite excited for this!" Yuuki cheered. "Let's end this quest with a bang!"

"Right!" I concurred.

I've been losing too many times now. Now's the time to have my name elevated to a new position.

And it didn't take long for them to arrive.

"It's them! They're blocking the way to the White Wolf!" I could hear the sound of the same old guy who just minutes ago ran away from me. And he's back with such renewed confidence! What a coward.

"Alright! Let's give these trolls a beating of their life!" One of the guys, presumably from the same clan or something, shouted his war cry as the entirety of the players - counting to around a dozen or more - being led to this exotic den rushed forward.

With no intention of being on the defense, we also charge forward. Our already superior speed combined with the descent of the hill already gave us far better edges. Two strides in and the third one a power push, I leapt in the air, over the heads of the first row players and then finally landed on one of those on the second row. And most preferably, with my foot on his face.

If the earth-shattering stomp to the face along with gravity didn't kill him, then my subsequent sword stabs would. The Salamander with a dagger at the front row just seemed to watch with awe as if a god just descended upon the battlefield. I'm sorry bro, but I wouldn't let a moment of hesitation go unpunished.

I quickly jumped right at him, my blade raised overhead slashing straight down. The guy hastily raised his dagger to block my attack, avoiding my attack just barely. And barely to me was just too slow. I edged my sword into his hilt; a strong push and his hand gave in, leaving himself open. And the opportunity was not missed. Two slash to his torso and he's a goner.

The third player was a tougher cookie though. A one-handed axe-wielding Spriggan. His axe raised, striking down without relent. I knew blocking it head-on would be a terrible idea. As a result, I carefully placed my blade into the area where the axe's blade and the handle connects. So now instead of having to exert a directly opposite force, it was now an upward force. More easily handled.

Unfortunately, they also did not give me any moment to breathe. The next player with a two handed-sword also lunged at me. I kicked the Spriggan back before jumping back, avoiding the sword attack. The sword guy was also quick, as the moment he recovered, he charged forward bravely, his sword skill ready to use. It was a simple swordplay that involved moving your sword in a curvature path in a downward diagonal direction. I saw it coming the moment he moved his sword down, so I shifted my sword accurately to direct it away from me.

I was playing a one versus two here, so I could not be on the defensive. Taking advantage of the post-motion sequence, I slashed the guy's shoulder quickly, grazing him slightly, before I jumped back again. Though this time my wings faded into view, propelling me up into the air.

Almost immediately, the two guys followed me like two cats chasing a mouse. But unfortunately for them, I got my groove back. And look at the surroundings, free of obstacles. Fighting a speedster in this scenario for people who were not really speedsters themselves…good luck gentlemen.

I flew up to a certain altitude before lunging back down at them, particularly the sword guy. He anticipated my attack with a block but failed the next move as I flipped, bringing my feet smashing onto his torso. Then I proceeded to use his torso as a base to launch myself at the axe dude, who was completely shocked by the movement. Though he did nullify my attack, he did not for my next one. I kicked him back before flying downward on a curved path to attack right below his knees. There fell right into the familiar pattern that I had once done upon Yuuki days earlier. And in short description, he did not last very long.

Once I finished off this guy, the two-handed swordsman knew he was taking on more than he could chew. So he had switched for a wand, attempting a spell in hope of pulverizing me. And oh boy what a terrible idea that was.

I, of course, would never let him accomplish the task. Before he could finish his last keyword of the spell, I was right at his face, with a sword unsheathed. What came next was just pure murder. I slashed open his chest three times and then his neck two times. I don't know what the players would feel with their heads cut off, but I wouldn't want to know.

After the guy though…there were none. It was apparent that everybody was ignoring me for the most part and instead preferred to go after a seemingly more vulnerable target. Seemingly was the keyword though. In actual reality, however, that judgment would be a fatal mistake.

When I looked over to Yuuki, five flames already surrounded her. Six after she finished off this spear wielding guy with a beautiful and spectacular swordplay, locking his arms in place before slicing across his chest.

"As expected," I commented. To everyone, it may have been a shock to realize that they were ants comparing to this small girl.

The next victim charged recklessly at her and without a thought in mind. He paid it dearly as she simply spun around his lunging attack before delivering a quick blow to his nape. Another swordsman rushed into the thick, but Yuuki quickly put him in his place with a couple of acrobatic moves.

The first wave of twelve players was accompanied by around fourteen more. I don't even know if they were from the same clan or no, as people seemed to already know where the final objective was. But nothing discouraged this Imp, as she continued to take in any challengers any seconds, dancing through the battlefield with grace and elegance. She was a fighting machine, and nobody could dream of stopping such an exquisite tango.

But because of the sheer number, some people were attempting to slip through. But they forgot another threat still looming above them.

From the sky, I dove into my target like a dive bomber. The black shadow quickly alerted the players, but it didn't matter to me. Gravity plus wing power smashed the guy's ability, and will, to stand. The other dude stopped at his track at my sight. And I took it as an opportunity. I stormed at him, putting him into a standoff. With a few sword clashes, I found my opening for a frontal kick, tossing him down the hill right near Yuuki.

"One more coming your way from behind!" I screamed as hard as I can. Yuuki took heed of my warning, as she turned around and finished the guy off cleanly.

"Can you do the work by yourself? I'm a little busy at the moment!" She shouted back, causing me to burst out in laughter.

The other few who were attempting to slip through soon abandoned in futility.

"Who is this girl?!"

"Is she hacking this game?"

"She's not a human anymore."

Murmurs began to ripple across the battlefield, as the next fourteen players had all but perished, with Yuuki standing in the middle of it all, looked upon with a myriad of horror, mild respect, and disbelief. She alone had cut down over twenty, nearly thirty, players on her own. While for me, I was struggling to handle one-sixth that number. Even I, who had seen first hand what she could do a player, was caught off-guard by such carnage. Sure, the players in this dungeon weren't too high-leveled or skilled in the first place, but to say that a girl of fifteen years of age to handle over twenty people was an achievement was a gross understatement…

"If you don't want to go through the countdowns, just leave. Please." I shouted to the players.

"Ugh!" A few grunted in frustration. "As if!"

I knew that was gonna happen. Their hard work wasn't one to be given up so easily.

Another player joined the fight. Another player to be killed. After Yuuki and he crossed swords, I simply jumped high, just like the first leap into battle, and slammed my feet onto his shoulder, knocking him to the ground, leaving up to my partner to do whatever she wanted to do with him.

The next player with a two-handed axe stampeded in, followed by a paladin-build player - with fully clad sword and shield. All two clamped down on me like a wrench. I bent back, narrowly avoiding the brutal axe swing, but was pushed back by the paladin with his weapons. Luckily, right beside me was my trustful partner. Before the axeman struck the decisive blow, he was bombarded with an array of sword stabbing skill, to which his huge build couldn't keep up with. Once she was finished with him, our combined effort reduced the paladin to a dim flame.

And it went on. And on. Yuuki mowing down the players who dared to attack her. And I was the crusher crane that softened the prey for her to kill. The immerse was just extraordinary. At times, I didn't even pay attention to the clock. I only looked at the dance of swords that we had. Our dance.

Before we realized it, all of a sudden, an immense energy field radiated from the wolf's den. A huge ball of energy expanded rapidly, engulfing us all, me, Yuuki and the other players. It happened so fast I couldn't figure out what happened. But the next thing we know, we were the only people to be affected. Or rather, buffed. Miraculously, our health bar shot to the max in an instant as well as our mana bar. That moment, I felt so…refreshed. Like I had just finished taking a long bath. You could literally feel being carried into the sky by the wind.

"What just happened?" I mumbled as I looked back at the den…well it didn't look like a den anymore though. Trees and leaves began to dominate the rocky plane of the cave. And not just that, our whole area also seemed to be swirling with lifeform. Trees that were once in its infancy grew to its prime in a matter of seconds, while those in twilight seemed to reverse the process, as branches that were considered dead long ago reemerged life, to the shock of everybody around us.

It was at that moment when the clock hit zero. The quest was over. Our quest was over. We had won.

"Children." A familiar voice echoed. "No matter what you do, are from, or who you are, always remember what it had taken in order for today to exist. You do not own this land. You inherit it. You borrow it from your own future generations. So be the rightful heir to the throne bestowed upon you…"

I couldn't help but smile.

"...be the grateful son and daughters of our mother nature…"

The voice then vanished, never to be heard from again.

And from our quest menu, a notification popped up.

 **Quest Complete: The Hands of Mother Nature.**

 **Your reward: Blade of grass (x1)**

There was a mixture of feelings that circulated. Pride? Joy? Reflective? I couldn't describe in words. But all I know, what had happened today would still be a topic of conversation for years to come…

* * *

…though not exactly to what I had expected.

"Look at that! Yuuki's now the hot topic of the entire ALO right now!" Nori squealed in excitement as she read the ALO's community forum via her menu bar.

I could say that the sudden twist and the hidden quest was a very nicely done environmental campaign, informing everybody of one of the greatest issues affecting the world today, while still managed to keep the players entertained through intense battles and swordfights. But it seemed unfortunate that the message of the quest was somewhat overshadowed by the news of the mysterious swordswoman who made grass of over thirty players in existence.

"You were in the quest too, Argo? We didn't know." I said.

The Cait Sith was the one who started all of this gossip as she was also among the active quest-doer. And since she was present in the area to do the quest, it was understandable that she would also be present at the scene of carnage at the wolf's den. And it seemed like this was just too good of an opportunity to snatch some headlines.

"Yeah, I was going trying to seek out some credits with my friend, though you guys beat us to that." She replied. "But hey, in exchange, I got some pretty good deals for information!"

Always about money it seemed.

"Who is this mysterious girl? Killed thirty players alone. Is she a secret pro player? These sorts of comments are flooding the forum right now. You really made yourself something out there Yuuki-san." Siune complimented Yuuki, as the latter lowered her eyes in flusters. She really earned her reputation.

"How about me though?" I inquired.

"Huh?" Argo replied confusingly. The short and blunt response went a long way to tick me off.

"You don't say you did not notice me during all of that commotion."

"Oh! Don't worry I did put you in there." She replied. "Read the second paragraph."

What? That was like at the very top. How the fuck could I miss that?

"There, that part. This young Imp player, along with her Sylph partner…"

Along with her Sylph partner…

...That's it...

"Hey, at least five players die by my own hands. And I actually helped her out at the end. You could've at least given me some credits than an incomplete sentence!" I bawled.

"But that wouldn't make a nice headline, would it?" She replied blankly, without even a slight bit of remorse.

"Seriously?!"

That's bullshit! As an artist, non-recognition is even worse than accomplishing nothing at all. Oooh, that cat! I'd make sure to pay this back later!

"Don't worry Hirano-san. I'm pretty sure one day you'd have fans flocking around you soon." Yuuki patted my shoulder, trying to console me.

"Yeaahhhhh right." I growled, a heap of salt filled my mouth.

And that was how Yuuki's reputation in ALO skyrocketed. On the while, I was still just the dumb background to her glory…

* * *

The next day.

I woke up rather early today. There was no class, but my mind just seemed to remember the routine. After taking the shower and a quick breakfast, I returned to my bed and was about to reach for the Amusphere to get in ALO. I didn't have any particular goal in mind, I just intended to chill out today in there.

But then…

'I'm serious! This is the best portrait of me I have ever seen! And you did it in less than ten minutes!'

…

"I know this sounds a little idealistic of me, but if you are thinking about giving up on it, how about trying to do something a little differently. Something that you have never done before."

…I stopped.

My hand lost strength as it fell to the bed with a thud. I stared at my Amusphere for long. One by one, the words flowed back to me. It was peculiarly vague, but chords it struck. What did she mean by doing it differently?

Then, as if there was this mysterious force pulling me, I looked over to my easel, standing solemnly next to my desk. My old friend and family. I spent as much time with it as I had with my friends. The woods still looked so bright and fresh, despite countless times it had been used. Thin rays of sunlight gently glossed over the elegantly peeled edge of the easel. And the canvas was just pure and ivory white. I could hear its invitation. To soak it with my excellence. To cover it with my passion and skills. My love for drawings.

"Something different."

I might have seen it. What she told me. This could have been just another futile attempt like how I, and perhaps many other people, perceive it to be, but then again...

I placed down my Amusphere and forced myself to stand up and drag myself forward. And, with a shaky, curled, but now decisive hand, I picked up the palette and the paintbrush.


	10. Chapter 10: A Change of Mindset

**What I meant last chapter by a reasonable length, I didn't mean this short. Well, it isn't that short compared to the length of a normal fanfic here, but it is shorter than other chapters. I actually have two plot points that I wanted to convey after Yuuki's quote, but so far I've only managed to do one. The other one would have to wait until chapter 11 or 12.**

 **The transition between scenes and emotions is quite weird in a way. Isn't smooth in my opinion. But I got the chapter out, and it's up to you guys to evaluate if what I'm doing is good or no. But keep in mind some scenes are more metaphorical and less obvious in the meanings.**

 **Alright, no more ramblings from me. Enjoy the chapter and stay tuned for the next chapter. A little spoiler: a new character will be joining the cast.**

* * *

Chapter 10: A Change of Mindset

The sun had already risen high as a signal of a new day. These celestial rays lightened the inanimate spaces that surrounded me in an embrace. And here I sat, on a softened stool, in front of a white canvas, with a sketching pencil on my hand. My eyes closed, my breathings dimmed, allowing my mind to journey to the vast infinity of human imagination. Before my eyes weren't the canvas, the white paper, or the desk behind it. It was the epitome of a masterpiece that could never have been created with parallel success with a computer or any highly advanced mechanism. The beautiful creation that could only be constructed by the power of the human mind. The work that I would be trying to reconvey into the white sheet of paper before me

My eyes rolled up. And now I was staring at the white paper. From top to bottom I gazed, measuring the height and length of the picture. And how I could place what I had built up in my mind, piece by piece, into that paper. Believe it or not, it wasn't easy. The universe of my own imagination is vast, endless, while the canvas was limited in views. So I had to condense what was best, what was the most magnificent of it into the paper. And tread lightly, if you try to place too many details in one picture, it would look like a mess, and all artistic sense would be for nothing.

For like ten minutes, it was just staring. The external seemed dead, but the internal blossomed with activity. But then when I finished, the signal was called, and my hand moved.

At first, it was easy. But as the hand continued to rise, the strength it took to overcome the gravity became more and more extensive. By the time my hand reached the canvas, I already wanted to give in. It was like an earthquake. A local one, with the center of the shock being right inside my palm.

I instinctively gripped my wrist. My pencil moved across the canvas as if thousands of strings were attached to the wooden cylindrical body - forced and unnatural. What I intended to draw did not require that much of sketching, but by the time I finished, my hand felt just like being eaten by molds overtime, as if the roots were digging deep into my skin. Air rushed from the depths of my lungs, the traffic was a little too much to handle properly, as sweats began to form droplets on my two temples. Just as I let my grip loose, my right hand lost its power. Just like a spring when pulled beyond its limits, I could not feel the shoulder controlling my right arm anymore. My right hand was then overcome with gravity, as it fell loose like a shirt sleeve. The sketching pencil escaped my grip, as it clattered to the floor.

"Tch." My left hand held my right shoulder. I spent a moment trying to grasp my breath again. Then I bent over to grab my pencil on the floor. I reached down for it, while my back looked up at the ceiling. I reached. Further, I reached. But suddenly when I felt the four legs of the stool not touched with the floor anymore, I knew I had gone too far. My right hand, to my survival instinct, grabbed hold the easel, but the strain I had placed upon my shoulder meant that it had lost the means to hold me up. And I tumbled to the floor. The easel, after my right hand hooked onto the thing, came down after me, falling right onto my thighs.

The wooden floor felt like it was collapsing under the crushing weight of my body and the easel on top of me. Like I could go through the floor, down to the room right below me and straight to the center of the Earth. It didn't. It was just the mind going rogue. I wouldn't blame it.

I tried to push myself up, but the arms only go halfway. The other half was simply tremor. Holding breathes, grinding my vein, nothing worked. My arms barely straightened when they gave up, and my body fell back to the floor with a thud.

Air rushed out of my lung as one of my cheek glued to the deck. It was just like the day at the tutorial, and then every other day like that, when I had the brush on my hand. Same old story for over a year now, though with a slight bit more touch as each day passes. But the feeling remained the same. My palm closed, tight and shaking, though not by overdoing something that I couldn't. And every time it happened, I steered closer to say fuck it all.

But suddenly this time, something controlled my gear.

'How about doing something differently? Something you have never done before?'

The words, when I least expected it to be, reemerged to slap me right across the face, to splash me with a bucket of icy water. Though the ice this time was completely different from the last ice.

'Why am I getting this worked up for?'

I opened my eyes wide. It was easy to miss, but everything that I had been doing up to this point had been resisting my disease, or mostly shying away from it. I wasn't being normal. I was just _trying_ to be _normal_. I was trying to act like nothing was wrong, that I am still a healthy human being, despite being halfway to becoming a broken puppet by now. And can I turn back? Of course not. Fate had already pushed me off the rail, and how do you think a train could return back to its original track? So why am I trying to do something that I no longer can't?

Do I want to become normal again? I could always dream. But now, the reality is as it is. Perhaps it is best if I do not treat this as an obstacle? An object to overcome? And perhaps this is also what she meant by making differences?

I looked to my left, my eyes gazing upward, to the desk. The glass did bounce the sun into me, like a bit, but I saw again. Those picture frames of the young me. Of the enthusiastic and energetic me. The old me that I could never come back to. I could hear them clatter against the wall. I really did. There were no winds or earthquake, but I could somewhat hear them. A blink though, and it vanished.

I turned around to the windows. On the branch of a tree on the other side of my apartment, a bird, I couldn't see which species, left the nest, followed by three of its smaller offspring. The only thing left to nature was the barren and desolated home made of long-dead leaves. The thing just lied there, solemnly waiting for the hands of nature to take its place and decide its fate in this world.

Perhaps it is…

Just perhaps, in a way that I had yet to discover, I could live with it. The thing that is killing me. The thing that is ripping me of everything. The thing I wanted so badly to be removed from my body, but couldn't. Just perhaps…I could live with it.

Knowing that my arms wouldn't permit me to stand up normally, I had to improvise. But how? To stand up, you are going to fight against gravity anyway, sooner or later. My only chance is to either call someone to help me or fight the gravity myself, which is nearly impossible. Who should I call then? The neighbors ought to be out for work already. My friends? Satsuki? Am I gonna call them and say come here and help me stand up, and probably with other shits that has things to do with painting? Well, Satsuki might actually be persuaded, but I didn't know if she had her shifts today. Perhaps calling wouldn't hurt. She is a nice girl after all.

"Now where is my phone?"

It's on the desk…Fuck…

I could see it from the floor, but reaching it was a different story.

I need a fucking stick or something to reach it. Not just a regular stick - it'd just push the thing further inside. It had to be something a little weird-shaped. What could that possibly be?

"Ohh."

I saw it. The fabled treasure.

Right next to the sofa was a black umbrella. One with a curved handle. Just exactly what I needed.

My nails sank onto the floor, as I crept toward the sofa. My entire legs were hugging the cold floor, with the side of my feet pushing me forward. Once the umbrella was in my reach, my hands gripped tight on it, before turning back to crawl toward my working desk. After reaching it, I turned the curved part of the handle upward and facing the desk. Lifting it with my arm, though not too high, took a lot of strength. The curved handle arched over my smartphone. Once I felt the handle touching the desk, I pulled the umbrella back like an upside-down pendulum, turning it outward. The phone was caught by the handle and fell to the floor. Or rather…my forehead.

"Arghhhh!"

The phone smashed into my forehead like a sledgehammer. I could feel like a bee just pierced through my skulls, as an intense pain shot right through my head. I dug my forehead into my arms, in hope that it would subside soon. It did, but during those seconds, the adrenaline was tightening around my neck, blocking my throat, stampeding to my chest, and fucking up my breathing routine. Wasn't pleasant, to say the least.

This is definitely gonna plague my beauty sleep for days to come.

But now that the phone was in my hand, I unlocked the screen. Going into the phonebook, I searched, sliding my screen upward, finding the S section.

"Satsuki Mihakawa…"

There she is. I clicked on her name and the phone buzzed. A few rings then suddenly a familiar tune played on my phone.

"She's a Love Live fan?"

I spoke with a brutally honest tone. A lot of people seemed to enjoy that band for some reasons. I couldn't. The moeness was somewhat unbearable. But I guess that was just preference. Who am I to judge other's cup of tea?

Though I am ok with people's taste, I wasn't at all pleased with the song rampaging through my room and my mind for a whole minute. What in the world are they even saying? Please, just pick up the call already!

"Hello. Hirano-kun?"

Finally! Her voice never sounded so angelic than before.

"Yeah, it's me." I replied over the phone's speaker, still fetishistically wide on the floor.

"How are you doing?"

"I'm alright." I said. "Listen, are you free right now?"

"Y-Yeah. What is it?" She stuttered a bit.

"Can you come over to my place for a bit?"

All of a sudden, a silence crept onto our cellphone line.

"U-Uhh. O-Of course I can! But why?" She continued on, though this time her voice sounded like a mouse squeaking.

"I…" I hesitated a bit. "I need a little bit of assistance. I'm just playing around with the brush a little bit."

Another silence, though this time was a lot shorter.

"If you mind it-" Before I could finish the sentence though

"No no! I'll be willing to help. I'll head over as soon as possible."

With that, the call concluded itself. And also that, I threw the phone to the side, as I face the ceiling. Damn, that was easy. Though she was indeed a nice person, I didn't think she'd agree to such a thing that fast, and with just a single statement.

In anyways, however, she is just on her ways. And I'm still on the floor, helpless. My eyes grew tired of the dull boring white ceiling of my house. Initially, it was just simple silence, but gradually, something broke the atmosphere. Something…nonexistent. Was it the clock on the wall nearby? I don't know, but the eternal ticking rhymed perfectly with the echoes that hounded my sentience.

"Urghhh…"

I dragged my hand to my forehead. This was what I was also facing at the moment. I honestly don't know what was banging my mind the whole time, but it had happened. And it seemed to occur only when both my mind and body were unoccupied. Usually, it happened when I was still struggling to sleep, but scenarios changed or rather expanded. The future wouldn't be at all different either. It was just the beginning.

"I can't wait for the nurses to come…"

Hurry up Satsuki. I'm not gonna take this much longer.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Half an hour later

I really wondered how I survived the onslaught of idleness, but a blessing in a form of a twenty-year-old lady with braided apricot hair finally brought me to the heavens, as a knock on the door called me back to my senses.

"Hirano-kun?" The knock was followed by a call, her volume mitigated by the barrier that is the wooden door.

"Yeah. The door's unlocked!" I yelled back.

The door slowly opened.

And before her, I still lied like a corpse usually seen in detective movies. The only difference, of course, was that I was still a living breathing human being, and I was looking at the door, to witness her golden reaction.

"Uh…hi." I said.

Me and her, the two of us stared. Seconds of silence ensued. As if her face seemed to lose colors, the purse hanging on her shoulder dropped to the ground.

"Oh God! Hirano-kun, are you alright?!"

She immediately barged into the room, the door hanging open, and rushed to my side. Going right next to my side, she crouched over, grabbing my arm and throwing it over her shoulder as she lifted me up.

"I was drawing, then I fell over, and couldn't get back up." I explained, with a higher-toned voice, intending to not make it a big deal, but I knew my singing career is toasted even before my ALS anyway.

"That's bad! How long have you been lying like this?" She asked, her eyes turning round like a puppy.

"…Before I called you…" I stopped for long before spitting it out.

"For that long?! The floor's cold you know. You could've called for neighbors or someone close by. Why me?"

She said that as she placed me sitting on my bed. After that, she lifted the stool and the easel that was lying on the floor.

"...They are busy people. I don't want to bother them long, because…" My eyes headed for the easel she just lifted up.

Seemed to notice me doing it, Satsuki looked over to the easel and the incomplete sheet of paper.

"So the reason you called me over is…" She mumbled.

"Yeah, I need your help with these stuff. I can't do it by myself." I explained. "Well, I still can, but you've seen what happened if I slipped up."

Satsuki was struck silent for a bit. She continued on later with unfocused eyes and a hand over her lips.

"But you haven't fully answered my question. Why me? You have a lot of friends, haven't you?"

"But you're the only one I knew who is willing to." I replied. "Will you?"

All of a sudden, in seconds, her cheeks went from normal pinkish white to a scarlet red. I know that sounds a little stimulating, but I couldn't lie. She quickly turned away in embarrassment.

"You are horrible, aren't you?" She meekly replied.

"Huh?"

"You know that I'm that sort of person. You know it perfectly."

I couldn't help but let out a laugh.

"Maybe I am horrible. I am a human being after all."

She didn't say a thing to it. All I could see her doing was messing around with her braids. Her head lowered. Her shoulders high. Then, she turned around slowly, her face still red but now she was able to look at me in the eyes, locked in place.

"So what can I be of help to you?"

Content, I stood up slowly, shakily.

"I need to bring this to my desk over there."

"Bring what?" She leaned her head a little bit.

"This. The canvas." I replied.

It wasn't technically a canvas though. It was more like a sheet of paper pinned on top of a wooden frame, to add surface to the drawing area.

"I can't go on with this posture. It puts too much strain on my arm." I explained as I rubbed my right shoulder.

"Oh, alright." Satsuki nodded in acknowledgment. "It is true. Though is this a little big for that desk?"

"That'd have to suffice." I said. "I've always been a man of larger appetite than other students."

"Sure." She answered with a giggle, as she grabbed onto the canvas. "Now how do I?"

"It takes a bit of force. Pull that lever sideways."

She did what I was told, though not exactly to what was expected. I couldn't blame her. She wasn't someone in the major. It'd hurt the wood in the long run, but it'd let it slide this time.

"Alright there we go." She said as she laid the sketched canvas onto my desk.

"Thanks…Hurgh!" I coughed out, my legs pushed the wooden floor below, my two arms wide as a balance tool. Once I was on my feet, I took my step forward, the trunk of my feet as tremulous as usual. But I made my way to the desk, my hand grabbing hold of the brush as soon as my butt slammed onto the chair.

"Let me get these papers off for you." Satsuki said as she carried the paper stack next to the canvas away then proceeded to place the palette in place of it. The color tubes were also nearby, so I could easily reach it for comfort.

The color mixture was just like the day of the tutorial: hard to be precise. But I managed, eventually. I purposefully picked the more simple color to go with anyway.

After whirling the brush around in the palette, I dipped into it. To the contrary of what I expected, the first swipe of the brush was rather…smooth. Not easy, to say the least, but the shake was minimal. I could barely even imagine it. My brush hand was not fighting against gravity anymore. It was now rather supported by the desk and the other hand serving as a lever support. And the first result was a masterstroke in my opinion. The color started and ended exactly where I needed it to be. Almost. There were a few spots I wasn't satisfied, but I could quickly fix that. The first step was somewhat a good start.

The subsequent ones…weren't so good, due to the complications of my drawings. But one by one, the gap in the colors were filled gradually. And it wasn't bad coloring, it just wasn't up to the old standards that I used to have.

"Hey, Satsuki." I called suddenly after finishing a touch.

"Yeah?" She asked.

"Can you help with the color mixing a bit? This one requires a little…much precision."

"Uhh, ok. I don't mind." She answered, walking over to me. "How would you want me to mix it?"

"I'll do most of the work. You just have to add exactly three drops of water into where I am mixing. Exact. Just one more and it won't be good."

"Wow, that precise?" She remarked a little slyly, though I didn't take it as a complaint. "Ok, let me…"

She crouched over my desk holding the water bottle, her cheek was just inches away from mine, as we both were staring down the coloring palette. Close, I tell you. Close. To the point that I could smell the shampoo off her shoulder-length braids.

'Focus…'

I forcibly turned my eyes over to the tube I was holding, squeezing the content out. I didn't have to care much about mine because after I reached past a certain volume, then the precision wouldn't matter too much. But Satsuki's had to be precise. Otherwise, it's not going to turn out as I wanted.

Though…why is it getting hot all of a sudden?

It's not me. I wasn't getting hot. But rather like a heater was placed right beside my cheek or something like that.

My eyes found its way back to her. And to my surprise, she was blushing just like a red-hot firetruck. Ok, I would pay it no mind, but…

"Satsuki…the bottle."

I peered down in the palette. It definitely wasn't three drops. And it definitely wasn't lower than three.

"Ah! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

She stood up quickly and stumbled backward. As for my part, I leaned back to my chair, the grin on my face formed and widened…in a rather unusual fashion. My eyes slit like two needles as words seemed to form at the back of my throat, but none came out but a salty feeling in my mouth.

"I'm really sorry. I screwed up…" She apologized, her voice slow and barely audible.

Well, nothing I could do about it. The milk was already spilled.

I slowly raised my hand, my fingers spread.

"I-"

"Things are what they are." I intersected Satsuki before she could continue. "I guess I'll try to salvage what I can."

Now that I looked at the palette, it wasn't that much that it broke the color. I could totally make do with it. I wasn't living up to my own standard for a year anyway so I shouldn't be a perfectionist.

I mixed the color in before deciding if I wanted to redo this or no…it was a little sparse, but that would do.

I went on the finish the painting in less than two hours, with the final touch being the smallest details of the trees.

Leaning back on my chair, I could finally see the finished product, for the very first time with an accomplished eye. Not as a scanner trying to cherry-pick the worst of the worst to be brought to the handkerchief, but an eye of the beholder, a farmer harvesting his fruits and a father who witnessed the birth of his own son. And to be honest, comparing to previous works I have done recently, there was something. Something noticeably different. There were thousands of expression of such that formed, but none were voiced. Was it the symbolism that the professor told me the other day? Probably no. I didn't have a single clue of what I wanted to tell in that drawing. It was only an extraction of a glimpse from my imagination. Perhaps it was just like art. Interpretation is open.

"Are you done?" Satsuki said, standing next to the kitchen entrance with a tray of tea in her hand. "Sorry if I'm intruding your house here."

"No, that's alright. I need that after a session." I replied, giving a long exhale.

Satsuki proceeded to put the tray on the desk right next to me. And each of us took a cup.

"So what do you think?" I asked.

"Huh?"

"If you are a gallery-goer, what would you think of this work?"

I said as we both turned to the canvas, now being lifted upright, leaning against the wall and on the desk. Just like how I did earlier, Satsuki looked over the drawing of mine, up, down and sideways. Occasionally, I could see a tilt of her delicate face or a soft hum of appraisal.

"It's hard to express." She said.

I wasn't gonna put this on display to the public anyway, but hearing such comments kind of make my stomach sink a little bit.

"But it sure gives off a different vibe than what I usually see."

"What you usually see?" I was curious. "Do you go to gallery often?"

"No no. Just occasionally if someone pulls me out to one." She replied. "I honestly suck at literature, so I don't normally enjoy art as you do."

"Uh-huh…"

Then what did she mean by a different vibe?

"Though I think the sky could be a little less bright than that." She continued

"And whose fault do you think is that?" I shot her the rhetorical question. Again, as if somebody inserted a spoon of salt into my mouth.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. That's my fault this happened!"

The moment the reminded comes through, she continuously bowed her head in apologies. Well, I'm really just asking for a favor. It's no big deal.

"I'll have a tutorial the day after tomorrow. I'll ask the professor to do the job for me then. This is total sabotage." I said.

"Please don't put this on me, please…"

As I continued to be a mean jerk to Satsuki, the painting I just commission solemnly stood, leaning against the wall, displaying the beauty it had. On it, a small white dove taking off from its nest, soaring to the flocks high in the sky…

* * *

 **Hirano did say he didn't symbolize his painting. But I DID. If you can figure it out.**


	11. Chapter 11: Nariko

**Alright guys, you can berate me all you want. I kept you guys waiting for long. But just like Hirano, I'm also a college student, and pursuing my dream of becoming a computer scientist. And things can get a little rough on my way there, especially during this semester as I kind of took a little more than I could chew. I'd probably still do good for the whole courses anyway, but it took a huge toll on my time and physicality right now. But it's gonna be over in a week anyway, so I was hoping for that.**

 **To Turtle Emperor: Thank you for showing interests to my story. I hope you'll enjoy this chapter as much as the last ten ones. For your question, I can't really spoil anything about the general plot of the story right now, but I will just leave you with this to keep in mind; is that I take stories quite seriously. Even fanfictions are also stories, and Life Expectancy, from the title itself, is (or I'll try to make it) a story about life itself. Not just about life, but also 'life'. So the fate of the characters will fit the narratives. So will Yuuki end up passing away just like in canon, or will she survive in this story, we won't know until I reveal it. But whatever the outcome maybe, you can always enjoy the bond built between her and my OC. For your other question of why doesn't my OC interact with other main characters, I'd just say that they are mostly unnecessary to the plot for them to have any major role. The story's mostly about the prequel to the Sleeping Knights and Hirano himself (in which Mother's Rosario feels like a standalone story in SAO), so I don't see any roles these guys can play in the story, maybe except for Asuna later on. I'd still have them appear as cameos whenever I see fit like Argo, but since I want the story to have a natural flow and realistic feel to it, they'd probably have to sit out for now.**

 **To everybody else, I'll keep on writing for whatever free times I have, and I honestly cannot thank you guys enough for your support right now.**

 **Disclaimer: The SAO universe and its characters are borrowed contents, and credits should be given where its due.**

* * *

Chapter 11: Nariko

April 24, 2025

Today is a special day.

Yet it didn't occur to me that it was until I finished my university class. I just finished the tedious four-hour lecture about the history of architecture in 16th century Europe. A lot of information to remember and, quite frankly, did not resonate with me that much as I had expected. I generally enjoyed learning different things aside from just drawing. The more knowledge I absorb for whatever time I still had left, the more inspiration I would have for future works, and it was just plain interesting to discover new things anyway. Just wonder why many people couldn't uphold the same mentality. However, this one was perhaps a little too alien to relate, so that I could understand it well. But I had grinded through it. Not having anything to do right now, I was intending to ask a few guys out to a cafe, or maybe heading home and continue with the ALO adventure. I'd love to have Yuuki as a partner.

Suddenly, as I was walking out to the courtyard, I noticed, standing next to the university main gate, three figures. Three feminine silhouettes, standing nearly as tall as the others. And they looked extremely familiar…

"Okaa-san? Yuina?"

I didn't need to get close to recognize two out of three of the shadows. One stood side by side with the stone plaque near the school's entrance. The light wind combed through her straight waist-length brown hair, with a large red bow tie at the back of her head. As I moved closer, her roundish face contrasted with a pair of deep olive-colored eyes. It was as if she was a woman in a child's clothing and physique.

"Nii-san."

The girl gave one simple greeting. Silent and grim. Her eyes continued endlessly

She was my little sister, Yuina Amari. She's still a middle schooler, senior year, yet she almost likely to have already secured an enrollment ticket to a gifted school. Like how I was told by others, she was also a person of great potential. But unlike me, who was specialized in something that sometimes society didn't give a fuck, Yuina's was a thing people craved for. Companies craved for, government craved for - medicine. Everybody wanted her. So she held a brighter future than me. I was happy with that, but it wasn't a pleasant feeling to compare myself to that.

"Hirano-kun…"

And right next to her was my mother. A traditional woman of elegance and diligence, yet scars of life had already been paved on her cheeks and forehead. She was wearing a brown kimono while her hair was tied up in a bun hanging behind her nape. And upon hearing such voice from the person whom had given birth to me, and had raised me up, had given me the joy of life up until I fell down that stair at my apartment, the voice that was about to lose me, made it uneasy for me. She didn't really want to say anything much, and so did I. We both didn't want to unnecessarily and involuntarily hurt each other at this point.

The third person in the group though was a stranger. A little taller than I am, and perhaps as tall as me if I was standing straight, she was peculiarly strange in her style. No, she wasn't wearing a Naruto costume or anything. But rather her clothes didn't seem to fit the weather. Long-sleeved shirt aside, she also had another layer of jacket outside, whilst the sun was beginning to turn on the stove, attempting to fry us alive for the next three or four months or so. I know I am not that far from my own description of her, but she was way beyond that.

Though that aside, the girl did look particularly beautiful in her own way. She looked older than me but wasn't enough to strike me as a married woman. She probably was in her mid-twenties, the time of young adults. Her deep blue hair was tied up neatly into a bun behind her, with the exception of two locks in front of her cheeks that extended to her chin level, framing her delicate face and highlighted her light colored eyes. Upon noticing my gaze, she smiled brightly, seemingly having known me before.

"Do you remember your request for a nurse a few weeks ago, Nii-san?" Yuina asked.

"Yeah." I replied, my hands still holding the walking sticks tightly. So this lady is…

"There we have it. Onii-chan, meet Nariko-san." My little sister then turned to the dark-blue haired lady. "Nariko-san, this is my brother."

Simultaneously, I looked over to Nariko, with a smile her way. She was quite a polite person herself since she took the greeting with a bow and respectful addressing. Though as she spoke, it wasn't as I stereotypically imagine.

"Konichiwa, Hirano-sama." Her voice was somewhat humming. It was clear yet deep. And she appeared to have been reading through my profile already, or that my family already informed her. Hence she knew my name

"Konichiwa." I returned her greeting. "You don't need to be so formal."

Not especially since I was a little too young to be called sama by someone mature-looking like her.

"So Hirano-kun then?" She inquired.

"That'll be perfect. You can cross out the procedure."

She smiled brightly again. Her tone changed drastically, from a more deeper and rather stressed to a more natural lighter one.

"Alright. I am Nariko. Nariko Minase. But if you insist on informality, you may call me Nariko."

First name basis already? But I barely knew her.

"I don't mind. But are you ok with it actually? Being called by your first name?" I inquired.

"That's no problem!" She replied, all of a sudden, in English instead of Japanese. And it was rather a perfect American accent, something I rarely see a normal Japanese capable of doing. "I usually don't like formality between friends anyway, but the occupation forced me otherwise. I'm glad to be of care to someone who shared my viewpoints."

"Uhh…yeah." I nodded a little awkwardly. I did not really endorse it, but she was officially my nurse for the next few last years of my life now. She would basically and practically be my mom in that period of time. So getting close to her would be inevitable.

"It's a pleasure to meet you then, Nariko." I rustily held out my hand. She took it gently, yet whole-heartedly.

"Let's take care of each other, shall we?" She smiled. Relief and happiness were what ran through my head at that moment. Getting a nurse was somewhat a gamble to me of some sort. If you ended up with a person who was nice, as my impression of Nariko right now, your entire time would her would be a bliss. But if you were paired with someone less than that, then it would just be an add-up to the mountain of problems that you were dealing with. I was relieved because she seemed like the former one.

"Anyway. How about you Yuina and Okaa-san? Are you staying with us today or what?"

"Hmm." Yuina brushed her hair a bit. "No, I still have class early on tomorrow, so I'll have to leave in the evening. Though if Okaa-san wants to stay…"

We both looked over to our mother, who simply shook her head.

"I won't bother you long…I and your sister would just have a look over at your place. If that's alright with you."

Like a mother's care for her son.

"Of course I'm alright. I mean why would I refuse?"

* * *

Perhaps it was a blessing that Yuina and mother suddenly paid me a visit, with Nariko being introduced - I didn't have to walk home anymore. A taxi ride to go. In just fifteen minutes, we were already in front of my apartment's door, with Nariko helping me up the stairs. Good grace. I didn't have to spend the entire hour climbing that mountain anymore.

"Here we are." I said as I reached for the light. "Although you should've known this by now."

This wasn't their first time here. And they were the ones who picked this house with me, so they knew this place well.

"I'm pretty surprised, Nii-san." Yuina said. "Even after all of that, your room is still clean and tidy as if you didn't even touch a finger on it."

"Doesn't look like a boy's room to me." Nariko said jokingly.

"Forgive my neat freak nature ok?" I replied. "But also because I had a friend over yesterday. It was a hangout, but along the way, she helped clean my room also."

"A girl, eh?" Nariko's voice suddenly grew lower, as if she was an inspector interrogating a prisoner. "My, to even clean the room of a boy too. I'd like to meet this friend of yours."

Christ, what's up with people nowadays.

"Cut me some slack, Nariko." I grimaced a bit. "She's a nurse in training. And she's just a nice girl that's all."

"Oh really?" She seemed disappointed. Honestly, this was not the image of Nariko that I initially had.

"Back in his middle school days, Nii-san loved to bring his classmates home with him." My little sister suddenly said, a little jokingly. "Especially girls. The habit continued on even after he moved to Hokkaido."

That moment, my heart sank. Yuina! They aren't necessary information!

"Ho ho…" Nariko's eyes slit like two straight lines, looking at me with suspicion. "Is there anything you haven't told us yet, Hirano-kun?"

"Cut me some slack Nariko." I replied, grumpily.

"Not on your life Hirano-kun. Not on your life." She replied, snarkily so. It seemed to me that I began regretting omitting the formality of the relationship between patient and nurses now.

But as Nariko was eyeing me like I was a criminal, something else caught her attention, as she stared over my shoulders. She looked quite attracted to it.

"I haven't seen that thing before. It looks beautiful." She commented.

I turned around. She was looking at my desk. Was she referring to my painting?

"This?" I asked

"Yeah. Where did you get it?"

"I didn't buy it. I made it."

Though that wasn't the soaring white birds like last time though, rather something more unusual. This one focused around a man walking as if he is the Flash, as the world seemed to zip behind him. It wasn't just a nice but bizarre picture of an absurdly fast walking man, but that is up to your interpretation.

"You made it?" Nariko's eyes broadened her two hands on her hips. "Oh yeah you're studying art, aren't you?"

"Yeah. I'm in the second year now." I said. Shouldn't she know that already though?

"Sorry I didn't think this is student's level." Nariko said.

That was…an honestly pleasant surprise.

"Do you mean it?" I asked honestly.

"Yeah, I do." She nodded firmly. "Believe me I was one of you guys. I can recognize a good art when I see one."

"Wait, wait. You were an artist?"

"Well...not an artist like you, but an 'artist'"

Was she? Nariko Minase. Had I heard that name before?

Hmmm…

"Wait, are you THAT Nariko?" I lifted my head up.

"Bingo!" Again, that English. Wow, this really was her. She had always struck me with her brilliantly nailed English pronunciation in her work.

"I can't believe someone still remembers me." She said, her eyes suddenly stretched, a smile on her lips, yet it was totally different than before.

"I'm not entirely a fan anyway. But back then it was quite an atmosphere in my class. So the name sticks with me. Wow, I couldn't imagine that you'd be my carer one day."

"That's every man's wet dream back then you know." Nariko's lips suddenly widened unusually. Her eyes seemed to deform into a half-moon. "You better be grateful…"

"...Hai…"

Truly regretful…

"But that's the past now." She said with a long exhale, staring into the distance. "Ok, it's four fifteen, I should be preparing dinner for all of you. Where is your kitchen, Hirano-kun."

I pointed at the corner of the room.

"Okie dokie! You guys want to stay with us for dinner or what?"

Yuina looked over to her mother, seemingly asking for her opinion. Without even the need to converse anything though, she said.

"It's alright Nariko. I have an early morning class tomorrow, so we'd better get going soon."

"Oh, that's too bad then." Nariko stopped in her track, walking out to join the rest of us.

"Everything's alright for you right, Okaa-san?" I asked. She nodded lightly.

"I'm relieved about you for now." She said, in an awkward combination of low and high-pitched tone. "But anytime you want to…"

She stopped at that point. But I already knew the rest. To come back home. To return to my mother's embrace but not as an accomplished man as I wanted it to be.

"I will tell you. Is that alright with you?"

It's not alright with me though. But there was no right choice.

My mother only nodded, as Yuina accompanied her to the door.

"You're doing alright in school, right?" I didn't have much opportunity to ask her during her visit, so I shot her the quick question.

"Yeah. It's not as hard as my friends said would be." She turned around, her long brunette hair lashed with the momentum. "But then again, I'm not the one to speak about difficulty."

"As expected of my little sister." I replied. "Alright, the two of you take care."

Her eyes suddenly drooped, but nevertheless, she held her head straight, as she looked me directly into the eyes.

"Goodbye Nii-san."

My mother followed suit.

"Take care of yourself too Hirano-kun…"

"Take care…"

With that said, they both left.

And they both left me with a hollow within.

"Man I wish I have such a supportive family like yours." Nariko remarked. "The last time I checked in with my family about my job, I got into a full-frontal battle of who gets to shout the loudest."

"My family didn't always agree with my direction too. But at least they still respected my decision."

Just like they did. Sometimes I do hope that they'd be a little more selfish.

"That's way better than mine already. Anyway, let's get in shall we? You don't want to be a statue for birds to stand on." She said as she walked inside, heading straight for the kitchen. "We'll have a lot of bondings to do from now on. So I'll start then. What do you do in your free time? Paint? Read books? Listen to music?"

"Uhh…" I wasn't expecting to be bombarded with questions like that. "I play virtual MMO games."

"Games?" Nariko rhetorically questioned. "Well, that is something boy-like of you."

"Do you then, Nariko?"

"I don't like games. I like listening to pop music though. Bands like Muse. Those things can get me hyped for a whole day long"

Oh my god, you don't say she is another Satsuki?

"That is indeed something girly." I returned fire at her. I know it is stereotypical and that there are many boys who love these things, but she was doing the exact same thing anyway.

"Yeah, because I am girly. A well-refined woman in her prime that is!" She boasted, a little loudly per say. "Like I said, you better be grateful for what fate brought you, otherwise it won't end well for you."

"Oh I bet it won't occur that way." I said snarkily. "They won't allow it."

Talking about games…

"Hey, do you mind if I dive into the game for a little bit?"

"Aww, you don't wanna talk to me or what?"

Seriously, stop putting me in a position like this alright?

"I do, but I have someone in there waiting for me right now."

"Ohhhh." Her tone changed like two polars of the Earth. "Is it a girl?"

I knew it.

"Multiple. A group to say. It's not a date like your wild imagination goes."

"A playboy I see." She said

My God…Ok I gave up. I had no choice but to play around this woman then.

"How long would you be in there though?" But then came a genuine question.

"I'll get out at dinnertime. At seven if you will."

"Three hours, huh? Sure. But if you don't come out on time, I'll unplug your visor for you."

"Ok I know." I rolled my eyes a bit. Even if she did, I wouldn't die like the NerveGear did.

I held onto the table and chair where I was sitting on, holding onto it tightly as I slowly straighten myself. Without letting go, I crept my way to my bedside. Once near the bedside already, my hand finally let loose as I fell onto the mattress. Grabbing onto my Amusphere, I struggled, like always, to put the set over my head. But once I did, I wasted no time to say that iconic keyword, so that my consciousness could be stripped away from this world.

* * *

Sleeping Knight's Clubhouse

I arrived at the clubhouse probably at not a right time. Before I even entered the house, loud voices from all parties could be heard from the outside pretty clearly. It didn't seem like they were fighting though. It was probably just a heated discussion. When I paid attention to it, I could figure out a bit of what they were saying. Something about a dinner party, a sword, a hairband, and…teddy bear?

"What the hell are they talking about?"

What am I even listening to?

Without any further impoliteness, I reached for the doorknob and opened the door, pretending to act normally.

"Hello guys." I greeted them with a wave. "What are you guys up to?"

"Ah, Hirano-san!" Jun quickly returned me the wave of greeting before it turned into a 'come here' one. "I…no, we need your help!"

"Uhh, sure. But what is it about?" I asked.

"It's Yuuki's birthday present." He said. "It's next month from now, and it's high time we decide what to buy for her."

"Oh." My eyes piqued in surprise and interest. "How old is she now?"

"She will be fifteen." Siune replied.

"Oh…wait…" All of a sudden my eyes turned flat. Didn't she say she is fifteen while we were having flight training with Satsuki? It was indeed only more than a month before her birthday, so saying she's fifteen instead of fourteen may not harm that much. But that wasn't really a reason to say it though.

"Anyway, Talken and I think it would be good that we can win her a sword for her so that she can use." Jun had his hand placed on his chest as he bent forward and said.

"I think!" Nori suddenly poked her finger in. "As girl, I think buying her an ornament is always better. Girls love those kind of things."

"Well, not necessarily Yuuki!" Jun replied, perhaps a little loud. Uh huhh…

"Wait, Hirano-san, don't say this to Yuuki please!" He soon realized his mistake, as he saw me bending my head back like a chicken while grinning like a madman. I'm definitely gonna tell her that.

"I still think we can buy her a teddy bear." Siune said. "It's nice and simple."

"Wait." I waved my hand. "She likes those things?"

"Oi, Siune-san!" Nori grabbed Siune's shoulder. "How can you let out that info so easily?"

"Come on, Nori. Hirano-san's not anyone strange or a weirdo." Jun went in to defend me. Honestly, I did feel somewhat good when people say I'm not strange.

But Yuuki liked a teddy bear…that's girlish I guess. I knew a few girls back in middle and high school that loved these sorts of things. It should be normal to me. Now that I mentioned it, I had gotten so used to seeing her jumping around up and down as if she was carrying an infinite battery that I forgot from time to time that she was just a normal teenage girl.

"I think we should just go for simple and traditional dinner party." Tecchi added his own argument. "It's the memories that count you said so."

"But we'll have to have that in the game instead." Jun replied, seemingly dominating over his friend Talken.

"So?" I asked, both rhetorically and curiously.

"We want to have that in real life instead." He said. "We don't have much opportunity for this at all."

"But Jun…" Talken finally had the opportunity to speak. But he instead leaned closer onto Jun as they whispered something I couldn't hear from my location.

"So it can't be helped for me I guess…" He said, his tone obviously taking a dive, as his eyes staring at the dark brown wooden floor. So the suggestion was odded out I guess? I really wondered what they were whispering that caused such a mood change, but I couldn't eavesdrop or anything. I was the oldest one here, along with Siune. I should act accordingly to my role.

"If you guys want to do stuff in real life, but couldn't really meet up I presume." As they seemed to be undecided, I voiced what they wanted to hear. "Then you can buy her things online and deliver it to where she lives?"

"Oh…" Jun placed his hand on his chin. "Oh hey that's a great idea!"

"While the gifts are delivered, you can do whatever quest we have to get the item. It's two birds with one stone. No three birds with one stone."

"It's actually four." Tecchi joined in. "If we can't meet up, then we'd just have to settle with eating in the clubhouse instead."

"Like last time, right?" Jun said. "It was fun then. Not to mention Hirano-san can join us too."

Oh right. I hadn't considered the fact that I lived in a different city than them, a few hundred miles away. I could still afford a trip back and forth though. It'd probably take like two days for me using the shinkansen, but considering my condition right now, it was a little difficult to move around. Nariko would have to tend to me too. So an online meet-up would be ideal. That was settled then.

"But do you know where to buy these stuff?"

The moment the question was voiced, a ghost seemed to manifest itself in this room. A wind crept inside, fluttering our soft digitalized hair.

"You don't know these things?" I asked with a pair of eyes equivalent of size to a baseball.

"Ahaha. We're not that outgoing." Nori laughed.

"Some of you don't look what you said." I remarked truthfully. Well, it was not at all non-existent these otakus who never actually see the sunlight once in their lifetime. Not that I was generalizing these guys, but anti-social behaviors are very common now that the digitalized world allowed you to still connect even without moving a leg. Some of those kids in class didn't even have an individual in real life whom he or she could call a friend.

"In that case, we can order that online." I suggested. "I know probably just the place for what all you guys need."

"Really? That's so great!" Nori squealed in excitement and relief. "You're such a big help, Hirano-san. We won't know what to do without you."

"Eh, no worries." I simply replied. I usually did this to my friends as well. It was nice doing this from time to time. It wouldn't really affect me that much. It's just a teddy bear and a hairband. How expensive could those two be?

I didn't really need to order this now though. It wasn't really a rare item or anything. A week or two before it would do, including the shipping time from both cities.

"Anyway, where is Yuuki anyway?"

I assumed this was for a surprise party, so she wasn't present. But she was a twenty-four over twenty-four FullDive player too, so she may very likely be just around here, chilling around somewhere.

"Oh, she's at the common training arena now. Probably dueling someone given her personality." Nori replied.

Taking advantage of her status now, eh?

She had been gaining a lot of popularity since that wolf quest. And funnily enough, no one actually knew me for shit, even as her popularity rose. Don't get me wrong though, I was rooting for her, but I should have gotten more credits than I deserve, thanks to that stupid cat.

I said goodbyes to the Sleeping Knights as I flew off for the training arena. It was relatively new, being added in probably a few months before the huge revised version of ALO. And it was at the very center, a neutral multi-racial territory. Huge tournaments and stuff were said to be hosted there in the future, to provide players with some sort of entertainment, now that the whole Alf race thing was gone.

"A teddy bear huh?"

It was cute actually…

* * *

 **Much of the mundane activities in this story is actually written from my own perspective as an international student studying in Canada. Anyway, I'd see you in the next chapter, where I'd shoutout to some of the canon content and explore deeper into Yuuki's life up to this point. See you then and have a nice day.**


	12. Chapter 12: The Lost Scabbard

**I swear I've never procrastinated or fidgeted on this as much as this chapter. The details at the first part of the fic really drove me into a dead end for a while. As a result, it was rather shorter (4k) than my usual standard for other chapters. But it is a lot of plot and canon stuff that really drives this fic forward and what makes the center theme of this story, so I'm still proud of what I have written. I hope you don't mind this little setback I have. I'm still trying my best to actually complete a fic that I can actually say composes of a cohesive and relatable character, and this so far has been the one I'm really rooting for. Again, thank you for your support throughout the eleven chapters. I could not have made it up here without you guys. I hope you enjoy the chapter, and I'll see you guys in the next one.**

* * *

Chapter 12: A Lost Scabbard

The flight to the Yggdrasil city did not take more than fifteen minutes. All hail the developer for finally removing that jerkass of a feature known as limited flight time. Without the thing, I could beeline straight towards the tree without even turning a degree. I also did not have to look anywhere far for the stadium, as it was the defining landmark of the entire game. As soon as I enter the city's airspace, all I had to do was just fly up a little high in the sky and the tortoise-shaped silhouette of the stadium flew into my eyes like a bullet.

The catchy thing about the architecture was that it was decorated like what you'd see in a typical ancient gladiator movie. The dome was just grandiose, as it dwarfed any mortal beings like me by the thousands. It was probably even bigger than the Black Iron Palace, as the time it took to walk from a far endpoint to another around the ring would probably have my legs screaming in tears. Though I wasn't a very sporty person to be clear. My stamina had only been improved since I had to exert myself more in recent months. Before that, buses had taken me straight to the doorway of the class, so I didn't feel the pain of actually having to hike to class like the majority of the class members. Man, maybe that would have been a good thing back then.

Nevertheless, once stepped on the gigantic roof of the dome, I could feel its organic surface bounce me up and down like a trampoline. My descent from the sky rocked the entire roof like a wave of water fleeting down the ocean floor before colliding onto the onshore rocks that were the other players standing nearby, or it slowly lost its glory and disappeared into the digits.

"Interesting design…"

It did give the feel. But probably only worked for digital worlds. Japanese climate would send the building into a one-year-old's masterpiece.

I walked over to the edge of the dome as I peered down the massive arena. There was no duel occurring right now. It was entirely a free-for-all practice ground, but it seemed like people were minding their own business. Those who practiced with their partners were rarely bothered, and spells that could potentially affect a massive scale were not encouraged to be used.

"Now where is Yuuki?"

I just needed to search for anything or anyone that contains purple as their outfit, as Yuuki is an imp. Sounds simple. But from here, purple and black were the same. Even some Salamanders who think they are edgy enough to wear darker red. It was a difficult filter. But eventually, I could finally track her down at the far east of the arena, on the other half of my end, seemingly practicing or dueling with another player. She really did enjoy this, didn't she?

I could see it in her movements, even though from up here, she barely looked any different from a mole or the birthmark on my arm, the speed and agility, the curves of each time she took flight with the newly powerful and mighty wings we were blessed upon, she really was taking this to heart. Just like how she did the other day with me. She took this with a sword straight on her hand but with no fingers crossed. Maybe that was the reason why I enjoyed her company so much. There was no facade to her. There were no bullshit motives behind every word she echoed. She was who she was, and that was a very commendable feature that we now lacked.

The other person didn't seem too much of a match for Yuuki, her movements were noticeably lacking behind, but he or she did boost their capability as a competent swordsman, as their shifts of metals correlated evenly and nicely with Yuuki's blade like a violin string. In fact, a better comparison of their skills would probably be with me. I couldn't hold a candle to Yuuki yet I could still provide adequate support that would be of use to her. It wasn't a perfect show of power, but it was indeed fun and charming to watch. The two fighters appeared to be enjoying themselves, as their body swung just along with their trusted companion. They clashed with the blades and parted just as they had enough.

The battle lasted about a few minutes before one fighter appeared to be spiraling down to the ground like a shot down aircraft. A flash of gold dirt shot up and expanded out like an explosion, while the other one simply landed nicely right a few feet in front of her. According to my own verdict earlier, it was easy to determine the identity of each person.

I figured that the battle had ended, that one of them had taken a strong direct hit and therefore lost the duel. It was backed up soon after as they did not continue on the fight. It was probably time to show myself up now.

I immediately jumped off the organic roof and materialized my wings as they slowed my descent to the ground. With a few adjustment, I landed within Yuuki's view.

"Oh hey. Hirano-san!"

Quickly, Yuuki recognized me as her lips quickly radiated a smile while she waved frantically as I slowly approached her.

"What are you doing here? How do you know I'm here?"

"The guys told me you're enjoying your fame." I replied, chuckling sarcastically as the salt in my mouth had yet to dissolve.

"I tell you, they're preying on me like I'm a sausage." Yuuki remarked, either returning my sarcasm or completely unaware of it. "I'm starting to feel my arms and legs torn apart."

"You can feel tiredness? I didn't know…" I placed my finger on my chin as I half-closed my eyes like a half-moon.

"Hey, I have my limits too you know!" She quickly jumped back in response, to which I could barely contain my laughter. Too typical for me to expect differently.

"I'm done for the day though. I don't have any more moods for another fight."

"Then do you wanna just hang out in the city? You know…walking around, get some snacks."

"Sure!" She nodded cheerfully. "Tremble Shortcake?"

"NO!"

You little…

"Hahaha, you're so easy to tease." She giggled loudly. "Come on, let's go."

* * *

"So how's your day has been?" I asked as we, right next to each other, both strode down the streets of Yggdrasil City.

"It's been an exciting week." She replied with a smile as she appeared to be hopping with every step on the way. "I've been raising my one-handed sword points. I'm about to reach the point where I could make my own sword skills."

"Your own?" My brows ticked.

"Yeah. Your original sword skills. Your very own." She boasted with confidence. "It was in the newest patch information. Didn't you read it?"

"Ah no. I must've missed it. Hahaha."

I scratched my head as I forced a laugh for myself. It didn't make me look any cooler or anything really. In fact, I must have sounded cringy to her. But apparently, she didn't mind that. Visibly speaking. I cared more of what went underneath the surface rather than what was thrown right at me.

"Well, the requirement is pretty simple that you need at least one thousand points of a particular skill you want to create. For me, I can only create one-handed sword skills and it only." She explained. "I don't know if you focus on being a jack-of-all-trade and masters of none."

"No, I don't. I'm like you in that regards. I use only a one-handed sword."

"What's your points at the moment."

"I'm at eight-hundred fifty. I haven't got much time this week." I shook my head.

"Ah, it's not bad." She said. "I'm at nine-hundred thirty now. I'll probably get that by the end of next week."

"Nice." I gave her a thumbs-up. "Hey how about we have a day together to level up?"

"That's good for me." She happily accepted, without much hesitation. "Just us two or with the rest of the guys too?"

"Your choice." I replied.

"Alrighty. When do you want to meet up?"

"Uhh…"

I had a midterm the next Monday. It was about graphic design, a pretty tough course to be honest. I could do well with the arts, but it wasn't all about the aesthetics, but rather about the understanding of the program and stuff, some of which weren't my cup of tea nor my forte. I may want to take the entire weekend off to revise it onto the back of my hand. After that, I might be able to go for it, but my body or maybe even Nariko would disagree. She probably wouldn't want to stress it like that. Even if this was for entertainment purposes, diving away from the real world too often could also have health consequences. Well, not that I was to speak about that matter anyway…

"How about next Tuesday in the afternoon?" I suggested. Tuesday would probably be the safest option to go.

"That's quite a long time to get started." She pouted a little. "You seem to have a pretty unconventional schedule huh."

"Well…" My head fell on my shoulder like a rolling stone. "You're hanging out with a dude in college."

"Is it common for you guys?" She tilted her head curiously. Well not surprisingly. She was only fourteen not even fifteen. That would put her in junior year of high school at best. You would expect people like her to know what's beyond their school, but you'd be shocked.

"Yeah, it is. Unlike high school or middle school where you basically have a morning and afternoon class, we don't have a static timetable. We make them instead." I explained.

"So you choose your own time at school instead? Wow! That's so awesome!" She exclaimed excitedly.

"Yeah, you also have like one to two subjects a day. But every subject's gonna be a few hours in length."

"So I'm gonna be able to learn music for a few hours?!" She bolted in shock. "Though in exchange I'd have to do the math for a few hours as well…" Before the amps fell down like a falling rock. Math is still a demonized subject I see.

"But you can't afford to be lazy though. Having less workload doesn't mean you can slack off."

"I think I'll be fine with that, haha." She ended with a big laugh, before staring up at the sky as the sky began to shade a massive red tinge. "Man, I wish I could experience that one day…"

For some reason, our atmosphere changed like a turning compass.

"You can definitely go for it if you want to." I casually said. To my curiosity.

"Not for me though. I don't think I'll be qualified for one." She replied as she breathed out heavily. The air seemed to mold my chest as I felt a grip so tight that I could suffocate. "You see I'm not enrolled in any schools at all at the moment. That's been like that for a few years already."

None?…

Factually, it wasn't something brand new. I've already known that she was diving in the game full twenty-four. But it wasn't the fact that she was not in school that was tying me in a leash. It was that she seemed to enjoy it. She wanted to come to school, but for some reasons, she couldn't. It was a rare and honestly admirable trait that people tend to lack nowadays. But life just had the habit of getting in the way.

"It has something to do with it yeah?"

"With what?" She asked.

"What you said in the clubhouse that day." I answered. "The thing that you need time with."

Would she be able to tell it? And was I, in her eyes, the person she could share it with? Had I shown that to her?

"Mhm." She nodded lightly. So light I barely noticed.

"You still need some more?"

This time she didn't reply. The silence made me want to retract the questions back. It did sound a little intrusive. But the echo was already transmitted. Already out there.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have…"

No no no. That wouldn't work. She didn't need time. The time that she said she did was for assessment. To get herself close enough to a person to the point where she could share the problems that she could not find herself expressing freely. And it wasn't simply sympathy or meaningless reassurance. She had to find herself a mutual understanding. She had to see the same thing in me.

And to compare, I wasn't any different. I wasn't the one to see the worst of people. Obviously, there were many who wished good fortunes for me ever since they knew I had ALS. But they themselves had never understood them. They were people who stood afar and wiped off the sweat from their forehead that they weren't in their shoes. And it was frustrating. When people, even friends, and families kept acting cautiously around me like I was some sort of problem or a weirdo. I am a normal human being at that. And I am doing my best to normalize myself right now. I don't need to tell me that I desperately need help.

"In truth though…"

And I decided. If I were to get myself the opportunity to be that person, I would have to open first. Tell her what I feel.

"I'm also not confident in my ability to finish school."

And maybe…maybe she feels the same.

Yuuki suddenly looked up. Her eyes filled with some contrasted curiosity as her lips.

"Why not?" She asked.

"Because I'm not going to live very long."

And it could not simply be a performance. I had to be myself, in order for her to be. It might prove a waste of time, but to hide and shut myself wouldn't give me anything at all. I would not be a coward to wait for her own feelings to come out before mine does.

"In fact, I'd probably be gone by next year or so."

The feeling. This feeling. What would it feel like to leave? It would be a hard truth for everyone, but what now was the time for me? The void that I would leave. The feeling when I wasn't here anymore. That I could no longer be spoken to, no longer be talked to anymore. What things would she or others have to feel after that?

But I had said it. I may have predicted entirely wrong. Yuuki might not be the same as me. That night at the new Aincrad when we had our first date, when Yuuki told me about her sickly condition when she was still in school. Her insane and extremely unusual gaming schedule that perhaps no parents or guardians would allow. And how she approached me like how I approached her. And now that I think about it, there were no reasons to explain such a lifestyle. A lifestyle that discarded personal education for a device for entertainment. My guts tell me there wasn't a different thing about it.

Yuuki's eyes were just…infinite. It felt like I could fall into it and never get out of it again. It was perhaps too much to see it all. For a simple-minded, energetic and cheerful girl I usually see, the tangledness was what I could never have expected. And she probably would have seen the same.

And then.

"I knew it."

Suddenly, the depths that I had peered into was filled, as tears quickly filled the void.

"I knew I would have picked the right person."

What?

"Can you elaborate on that?"

She knew it all along that I was going through a chronic disease? Or did she know I had the same feelings as her?

Yuuki giggled, as if making fun of my obliviousness, as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

"I knew I picked the right person to be my closest friend."

She said it. So casually and cheerful it melted my heart. I am her closest friend? I never would have expected. Out of the whole Sleeping Knight, I was the latest member, yet I was the closest among all?

"So you knew all along as well of what I'm dealing with?" I asked.

"Well." Yuuki turned away for a moment, sounded a little dragged out. "I didn't know exactly what, but I saw signs all over you that you were dealing with something unpleasant."

"Though I'm doing better now," I said. "Thanks to your inspiration."

She looked away again, up and down as her cheeks seemed to ripen. But again, she recovered pretty quickly as she gave a pat to my shoulder with a big smile.

"I'm glad to hear!"

Her smile really was contagious. I couldn't help but be infected.

"So about that." But then the topic returned right to it, something that we could have forgotten in the feelings. "Again, I'm not going to press on if you don't want to. I just want to let you know that I'm willing to listen."

All of that didn't have to do. She'd have to open herself willingly.

"No no. I think I don't need anymore." Yuuki replied. The one thing that I had been waiting for quite a while. "But if you don't mind, let's go inside the inn. I don't want to talk in public."

* * *

"The Sleeping Knight was formed barely a year ago. At first, it was just me, my older sister Aiko and another friend of mine called Merida." Yuuki began. "It was a wonderful trio back then. We met at a game called Serene Garden, but also played Asuka Empire. We kind of interchange whenever we got bored."

After a quick search on the city map, we found an inn right nearby and so we rented a double room. We sat at a square coffee table, as me and Yuuki faced each other.

"It was fun already for us three, but we all wanted more friends. So we began inviting other people to join us in our adventures throughout the virtual worlds." She said. "Although it was hard to find members, we still found a lot of people like us surprisingly, in the same circumstances as us. Now that you know why I said not many people get to join the Sleeping Knight."

"Because you don't want to burden them when they know?" I answered. It was completely understandable. In fact, I was the one hiding it in the first place.

"Yeah. The Sleeping Knight is a guild of players who are severely ill, and often terminal."

Then...

"Soon we reached nine people. Nine group members. That included all the current members you've seen here." She nevertheless continued. "From there we expanded from Serene Garden and Asuka Empire to all other games. Almost every other. Insect World, This War of Ours, Frostbite and now Alfheim Online. It was just a phenomenal experience. Did you know that…"

And she went on talking about how Siune was actually a caterpillar in Insect World, or how Tecchi fucked up and got shot by a sniper in the latter game. Her tone took a jump, as she went on for almost two minutes, recalling all the memorable events she could remember from the top of her head with great detail. I actually found myself laughing and even enjoying what she was saying. I know what it was like to have a group like that. A group made up of people who think the same, who acts the same and shares the same passion and interest. You could spend hours talking bullshits with them and they would still consider it a fun and productive day. But nine people? There was only seven right now, one of them was me, who joined way late in the guild.

"But as we just moved to Alfheim…" Suddenly, the tone that was just seconds ago sky-high fell back to the Earth with a slam. I knew exactly what was coming "Merida and Aiko passed away, along with one other member."

My heart tightened like a knot. I didn't need to begin explaining the feeling when you lose not just your founding members, but also your very own sister. The thought now, if I were to lose my mother or Yuina. Even…I just couldn't…

And that was just a year ago. One year. Just around the same time, my life had been cut short by decades. Just as I was declining into a lesser version of myself, she was expanding to the girl I knew today. Who knows how long she had lived with the condition that she tried her best to hide, but now, even as her sister was gone, her other friend was gone, she was still being the angel and finesse warrior of ALO that she had earned herself with a radiant smile on her face. She was the person I could have ever idealized to become, but she started out just like me. Now she was there, and I wasn't.

"So pretty much de facto, I became the leader." She lifted her eyes as forcibly she pulled a smile. But it wasn't any more clear that it wasn't her. I had known her long enough.

"Even though my old friends are gone…my new ones are just as fun. Jun, Siune, Talken, Nori, and Tecchi. They all make my story worth telling. Just like how I…"

But then again.

"...Just like how I made my sister's…'

How naive and ignorant I was.

The salty droplet, for the first time, ran down her right cheek before falling cleanly on the table. Then came another. Then another. And before the grieving and heart-wrenching sobs came, Yuuki's hand were already on her lips.

How could I forget that she was still a human being? A normal innocent teenage girl who had been forced against her will to endure such pain. She stood strong, she fought like a warrior, yet she grieved like all of us. She wasn't a nigh-flawless angel that I always looked up to as a model for a lost me. She still needed help and support all the same. She had her down times all the same. And that to me was what I also failed to realize. For her. And for myself…

Slowly, I held onto Yuuki's hand. Unlike the other day, I wrapped all five across hers sideway, shielding her small delicate hand with my own frail one. As she cried into the night, I did not say a thing. I won't pretend to understand or know her feelings, because I didn't completely. I'd never lost a dear person in my life. After it, I was too depressed to care. So I had no rights to say anything as pretentious as such.

But for now I would be here for her.


	13. Chapter 13: A Step Forward

**Well my posting schedule is such a meme, but please be considerate to me, I'm progressing deep into my university year, and was also offered a scholarship for my effort in the last few terms, so I've been grinding the dirt here. I will definitely continue the story, no matter how long it takes, but you probably would not see these chapters pumped out so frequently like before. So I apologize in advance and really thank you guys for your patience.**

 **Now onto this new chapter...before you complain about how I made you guys wait almost 3 months for a short 3k chapters, I apologize as well. I really don't know how to progress to the next arc of the story after that whole Yuuki confrontation. These writer's blocks kept hitting me one after another like a sledgehammer, so this is the only result I could bring out. Just a bit of development and a plot point which will be addressed in later chapters. At this rate, I hope that I could finish this story by chapter 25-26 something, I don't know. But for now enjoy the chapter and please forgive my uncreative mind for now. Have a nice day!**

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Chapter 13: A Step Forward

Met, as my eyes began to take visions again, a bright flash. A leak of light, like a paint, dropped on the black canvas, with hues of seven rainbow colors, all mixed in one droplet. As I opened my eyes fully, to let the real world fully indulge in me, all the colors began to merge into one. The one pure white of the ceiling light hanging above me.

It wasn't common of this site to be seen as my first after a period of time in the virtual world. What usually followed was darkness and the quiet and heartless rhythmic ticks of the clock on the wall. Now it felt like something had filled this room with the brightness I needed but completely unaware of for the last twelve months, even though the clock had struck pretty late into the day.

"Waky waky!"

As I expected.

"What a welcoming committee I see." I said snarkily.

"Well, I've been quite lonely for the last few hours because you ditched me for your girlfriend in there." And she did not hesitate.

"Like I said Nariko, give me a fucking break."

"And like I said Hirano-kun, never in your LIFE."

This would never end. Well, it is my new life now…

I heard the growl in my stomach. The clock finally ticked seven. I hadn't had my dinner yet, so I'd better get going. But as my hand reached for the visor wrapping around my eyes, the muscle began to strain. My back felt weak, and my neck was irritably blocking my ventilation. And yet the Amusphere was barely my forehead level. I tried pushing harder, just a few more tries before my neck fell onto the bedsheet, unable to take the gravity any longer.

"My my." I heard Nariko's voice coming from the door. And the footsteps too, getting closer and closer. "There we go." Before removing the Amusphere off of my face effortlessly.

"Ahh, thank you." I said.

"Now you're ready to taste my masterpiece."

All of a sudden, I felt the weight on my shoulder beginning to be released through my back and my knee. Nariko lifted me up and turned my body around to a sitting position right beside my bed before she went into the kitchen and carried out a tray full of dishes. The steam swirled in front of her delicate face, the allure of the food was getting more powerful by the second.

"There we go." Nariko said as she placed the tray down on a small coffee table before dragging the whole thing right next to me. Then she also sat down on the other side of the table. "Have a bite, and tell me what you think."

My eyebrows raised. Before me was, honestly, not a very complicated meal that I had the impression from her. It was simply grilled fish with teriyaki, a large bowl of salad and some chicken potato curry. But anything to calm a growling stomach after a whole day I'd take. I grabbed the utensils slowly with my shaky hand and gradually made my way.

"Hmm…" I carefully cut the piece of fish and placed it cleanly inside my mouth. "Hmm!"

"Hmmmmmm?" Nariko glanced sideways with narrow eyes. "If you like it, just spill it. I know you do."

"Well, I'd be tempted to say no. But that would be disingenuous." I replied. "It's wonderful."

"Hmph." She snorted teasingly. "Don't underestimate a well-trained homecare nurse."

I rolled my eyes before finishing the piece of fish, before moving on to the next dish: the curry. I dipped the spoon onto the bowl before lifting it up a heavy piece of chicken and soup. Heavy for me that is. It took a considerable amount of effort just to lift that spoonful up, not to mention balancing it. Every shake the soup began to spill out of the spoon and fell onto the bowl again. Not wanting to spill it onto the table, I leaned closer to the bowl to catch the piece cleanly poured into me.

Nariko wasn't a few seconds away from looking away, even while she was having her own dinner. "You know I can help you with that." She offered.

"I'm alright for now." I smiled back at her as I took another spoonful.

"You're alright? Well ok." She shrugged her shoulders. "But you know that later on, it will be happening anyway right?"

…

…

She made it sound so nonchalant, yet it hurts.

That woke me up. I stopped in my tracks. The statement couldn't have been any more accurate. Yeah, this would not last very long for me. In fact, it would probably fly away in a blink of an eye. Last month, I could do fine with normal walking distance to school, to cook for myself and to use the Amusphere, but in recent days, such simple task had become too straining. Maybe the next thing I knew, I would be sitting in a wheelchair, unable to move or even close my eyes. It was inevitable. The reality was that, and I knew it. And I had accepted it. Where did that acceptance go?

Silently, I swallowed her word with a nod before continuing to eat the rest of the curry. Suffice to say, our dinner did not go on as eventful as before, but a long but comfortable silence. And so along with my long day. From my meeting with Nariko and my family, along with the fact that she would now be living with me in my house, to the little talk with Yuuki inside ALO, I would probably prefer a good night's rest. It was still pretty early, but still.

"So where shall I be sleeping tonight now that the bed's not here yet?"

Nariko's inquiry also stopped me. Yeah, I totally forgot about it. It was my fault really. That information was conveyed to me a week ago but I totally discarded it into the forgotten synapses in my brain that it never came up to me during the last few days, only to be brought up now, leaving me choking in my own breathing.

"Uhh…" I really was failing the lying test. "I think you can sleep on mine…"

"Ohh, I see how it is~" She crossed her arms as if she has caught prey in her paws. Oh shit. She did catch it. By my own carelessness!

"No no, I don't mean we'll be on the same bed!" I defended myself, quite pathetically I'd say. "I mean I can sleep on the sofa and you on the bed."

"And do you think I'd let you do that?" She convincingly shut me down. "Remember I'm a nurse. I'd get fired if they know I let a patient sleep on a sofa while I comfortably sleep on a cozy bed."

Yeah, I forgot that I was the more vulnerable one here. If this was my normal me, I'd do that without a second thought, but considering I could not even take care of myself properly by myself, I'd probably be best to receive the highest treatment. As far as my moral code goes, I should grow to accept that.

"Well, considering you probably haven't thought about it, how about I sleep on the sofa instead?"

Since I was err-ing like a total fool, I had no choice but to accept the proposal. I had no idea of any other alternative resting place that could actually help with our lack of bed crisis, aside from the sofa or the floor, to which the first option made the second feel insane.

Nariko simply shrugged before proceeding to clean up the dinner table, helping me up in the process. While she was doing what I was supposed to do normally, I sat back down on my bed and read a couple of books as I let time pass by, and let the natural workers to build some sandbags in my eyes before I got sent off into sleep by the fatigue from the day. A long day, but a day I think I learned something. Or be reminded of something.

Accepting help really wasn't a bad thing…

* * *

The next week.

"Hmmm?"

Among the void emptiness of the entire lab, the insignificance of me and my professor was apparent. The tutorial had ended hours ago. Students were already beginning to make their way back to their home to rest and refill themselves up with energy to prepare for the next couple of days filled with exams and assignments to be finished. The professors as well. Some of them were scrambling to their next class, preparing their lectures, exams and, for a few, making for their office hours to make student's life a little easier, if they could. Others wanted to make do with the little free time they had in preparation for their lecture the next day. Here, the life of students and teachers weren't that different. But despite embracing such a lifestyle himself, the professor surprisingly was patient enough to stick around until I finish my work. It was just like the other day, but it felt strange that he would devote so much of his precious time just watching a weak-muscled student trying to accomplish a normal painting.

"Well, a girl walking down a seemingly endless road, mountains behind them, under the soaking rain." He muttered. "No hesitation, no fear and full of resolution."

I watched as his eye expression changed. From a slit of a needle to as large as a marble, then curved like the ocean wave. Every change also changed my heart rate. This wasn't just a normal generic college instructor. His name is Hirotaka. Once famous with his unique and wonderful technique of using mosses as paints to create a lively and realistic image, and there were great reasons for it. I truly admired the creativity in such a single concept that the man was capable of generating. I could go on more about it, but long story short, after his prime days and gradual decline in quality and block, he decided to switch to a teaching position in colleges in Hokkaido. And the rest was history.

I didn't just want to pass his course. Of course, that would have been simple. I wanted him to know who I was. If my art career was to begin, if it actually could, I would have to start somewhere. And where better than a person who had such a long experience such as Hirotaka. I wanted to know his tricks, hear his pieces of advice, and most importantly to reach out to those he knew. This world's success did not only rely on hard work but proper connections as well.

"It's rather narrow of interpretation that it's kind of boring." He commented bluntly it stung a bit. "But I'll still give you the credit for following what I said the entire lecture. Your artistic talent is your saving grace."

"Did I?" My voice beamed up a notch. "I thought that was not enough for you."

Hirotaka walked up to the instructor's desk and proceeded to write something on his notebook as he gave me this remark. "The reason why I emphasize it much on sending the message in their work is that some art students do not have the same capability as the person next to them. But everyone has a morality, beliefs, and values they truly believe in, and perhaps want others to."

"Sometimes an art piece could still be great without the special fancy techniques." He mumbled, before turning over to me seriously. "But Hirano-kun. Since you are a person longing for an ambitious future, remember that a truly great artist is the one capable of both. There is nothing nobler of an artist to use his talented expertise to remind the world of value that they are lacking."

"..." It took a while for me to respond. His words of wisdom really was not a shallow hand-waving advice. It was almost true to my own observation as well. There are many artists out there, creating many different forms of masterpieces, not just limited to a stiff canvas on the wall, both to serve an application purpose or just to entertain the normal audience. But there aren't many of those who used such powers they have earned for spreading the values of humanity that we always cherish when we were all kindergarteners. And unsurprisingly, they are the ones who earned the legendary status among the community they are in.

But that wasn't just the point.

"You know what my dreams are?"

I said, never would have expected. The professor simply chuckled as he sat down on his desk again.

"I know who my best students are, and what they stand for." He said. The feeling when he said I was among the best students was rather wholesome and blissful. The best students of a once-famous artist. It definitely wasn't easy.

Hirotaka then opened and looked into a drawer under his desk for a quick second. Taking out something similar to a leaflet, he stood up and walked over to me.

"This is all up to you to decide, but if you want to start your career, the best place would be here." He said.

"What is it?" I asked.

"The annual exhibition for young talents." He answered. "This is just like the average contests that you see in middle or high school, but of a higher level. Though many participants I notice in previous contests are usually seniors who are about to graduate, so it's gonna be tough."

"It looks fun and all, but how is it going to start my career?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"Since it is for talented college students, they are close to getting out to the real world of work. So companies and art critics will be present in this place to seek out the best of all the players in this contest. If you could manage to catch their attention, then you'd be a step ahead of many artists who is trying to get their names out there.

He continued, as he held the leaflet open right in front of me, with gestures asking me this 'what do you think?' question.

What do I think about it? It would be a question of not just my artistic career but also my personal life as well. This would be a challenge of not just my personal time, but my physical effort as well, since I had ALS, to which it was already a lot difficult to do anything simple, not to mention paint. Of course, I had been doing it quite frequently in recent days, but this was on a whole different level. Those paintings that I had been doing recently was garbage comparing to the level that was needed to attract critics. I would have to push harder with implementing ideas in a different way or even techniques that I had to master again. My mind was flooded with uncertainty. The ALS thing wouldn't let me go that easily. What would be the point of joining an art competition if I knew I was going to die in the next couple of years? All of the efforts would be for naught, and the attention that the people would be giving me would soon turn to pity and regrets.

But still…do something differently…that was what Yuuki told me. And I had. I had picked up the brush again, not with just a monotonous desire to pass the day, pass the course or get a degree, but with passion and love for art. I decided to do the things I love until the end of my days. So why not this? What if I wouldn't die in the next few years? It would make the doctors' words at the hospital sound insane. But what if, by a miracle, I managed to live just a bit longer than I should be? If I had decided not to play by my own passion, wouldn't it be a waste of my own talent?

' _Yuuki…'_

For some reasons, I remembered her. Her story of her trying to live her days to the best, establishing a guild with her older sister to make new friends since she could not manage with her normal circumstances. She certainly did not waste any future by saying that she could not do it. Yuuki did exactly what she wanted to do, regardless of the wildly uncertain future, so why shouldn't I do what I am passionate about?

"Thank you, professor."

A little hesitant at first, but all determined, I took his leaflet.

"Follow the instruction on that paper for registration. The deadline for submission is 6 weeks from now. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me in class, via email, or just look it up on the website. I really look forward to seeing your work."

With that said, the professor packed up his stuff and left the room. I followed suit after, meeting up with Nariko to be escorted home.

I didn't know what the future holds me now with this cursed disease that no one could actually prepare for, but I wouldn't know unless I try. I knew better now. I'd rather die trying than live in peace and complacency.


	14. Chapter 14: Mother's Rosario

**Ok, if you guys wanna judge me for this, please feel free. I am disappointed to have halted this story for so long. Third-year university is such a slap to the much easier second year. So whatever I may have said about a posting schedule, please forget that from now on. I will still be continuing this story, no matter how long it may take me, but I can't promise anything about the date of the next chapter. I can only work on it when life gives me a quick break, and when writer's block has its mercy on me as well.**

 **For this chapter, don't expect anything much of quality I'd say. I'm kind of iffy about this chapter as well, unsure if it is great or just meh. This is a lot of build-ups for later events, and really just a few explanations and insights into things we see in canon, so that may interest you. If you want to criticize my writings for this chapter, feel free.**

 **Again, my sincere apologies for the delay, and thank you to those who are still reading my story right now.**

* * *

Chapter 14: Mother's Rosario

May 13, 2023

"Say, do you think this move would be easy to dodge?"

Using the magical elasticity of bones and muscles, Yuuki bent her two knees sharply as her torso shifted around like a swinging pendulum, whilst her blades left an elliptical vacuum in its wake, strong and wide enough to cut me into three if I was unfortunate enough to stand in its path. It was a good move I would say, though it didn't seem like something that could be combined with another move to form a combo. The swing already looked powerful enough for a sword skill of its own, and it was pretty difficult to regain your stance after the move. And Yuuki's definitely not looking for one simple move like that. Though I may make use of it

"I don't think so." I gave her my honest assessment. "But it's more single move rather than combo-potential, so I think it is better suited for two-handed weapons."

"Hmm…yeah." The procession of my words seemed to seep through to her senses. I then suggested her to test that on the indestructible dummy to calculate the damage. I wasn't too certain, but pretty enough that it was pretty high end powerful, to both the blade and the target.

My up and down delays with real-life stuff and our combined farming and leveling our sword skills together in the last few weeks had recently paid off. Now both Yuuki and I are now capable of creating our own original sword skills to work with. It wasn't exactly that big of an achievement, in fact, so many people had already accomplished it and are now utilizing their creative minds to create deadly combos, but it was for me in a way. It felt like a milestone in a journey. And without even any hesitation, Yuuki had already jumped the gun to try and create her own sword skills. In the last few days, we had toyed with a couple of moves already, and some of which I was quite confident it could work in a player versus monster situation. Normally I'd just be satisfied with it and move on, but the purple-haired energy ball of the group still insisted on making the original sword skill…more original. Well, the greater the expert, the higher the bar it seemed.

"Hirano-kun!"

While watching Yuuki from afar, a shout caught my ears. None of the Sleeping Knights actually called me that informally, so it was pretty easy to predict who that was.

"Good morning Satsuki. Seems like you have mastered the art of not ramming onto my back." The braided Undine girl landed right beside me just in time for the greeting. And to no one's surprise, she immediately walked right up to me to push my face away.

"Don't fret. One day I'll ram that back of yours onto the ground." She acutely remarked.

"As an archer?" I scanned over her costume and equipment, which consisted of a triangular-shaped Asian-style bow, with golden string. It looked pretty neat and simple, though I've never seen the bow before in the category before. "You have a long way to go."

"I have the pleasure to be helped by some of the best players in this game, so the road's shorter than you think?" She retorted. Already making connections already? She probably isn't as shy as I thought.

"Better than Yuuki-kun there?"

"Well…" She hesitated a little as she glanced over to the little girl energetically slashing the dummy. "I'm not sure, but comparable. I've been hitchhiking on her party for a while now. She's great."

"Undines like you too?" I curiously asked, and she nodded. To even rival Yuuki? I surely would like to meet these people. And probably Yuuki as well.

"But anyway, what brings you here today?" I changed the topic.

"I just tested out that concept that I came up the other day." She replied. "You know, trying to fuse spells into an arrow."

Oh that one. That's rather…interesting. I'd like to see more of that actually. You typically need a wand for spells to be casted, but there are no rules that says you can't hold too many items in your hands.

"How about you? I assume you're training or something with Yuuki-san."

"I'm making my own sword skills." I said.

"Wait, what do you mean by make? You can?" Satsuki seemed awed. Well, for a newbie, I could expect so.

"Yeah, though that's later down the road. I'm mostly done though. It's just Yuuki who's not."

I would admit, her desire to seek perfection with her technique is something to be admired. As an artist, I knew the feeling. You could never be satisfied with your own work, and even if you could surpass everyone with your own expertise, there just seemed to be that invisible force that tells you it's not enough. It normally is portrayed to be a bad thing, but it is good in its own way if you know how to utilize it.

"Now that I actually think about it, I haven't seen you in a while IRL. How's life going?" Satsuki brought it up. My life? There's a lot to say…

"Well, I could talk all day about it." I laughed a little. In earnest though, it wasn't something I did just to keep my politeness. "But long story short, my family visited, I have an in-home nurse and now I'm looking forward to joining the art competition in college."

Ever since things really took for the better. And I'm glad for that.

"Nice. I'm glad you are enjoying yourself." Satsuki said. "What art competition though?"

Oh yeah, now speaking of that…

"It's something called the Annual Exhibition for Young Talents. As the name suggests, it is for artists to compete." I explained. "The stakes are typically high as I heard."

It's due in 3 weeks from now. I had somewhat started with the framing and part of the sketching. The rough idea and core theme of the picture were there, but I hadn't really fully commit much to it. Half the time I had was already gone. It surely wouldn't take that long anyway, but this is a serious competition, so I ought to set myself respectively to that.

Though what happened to that vow I made with myself about trying to give it my best shot? I surely did whenever I sat down in front of the canvas for sure. I never sat down without that rush, the feeling of ideas, of cognitive gates opening to let the tidal waves of ideas, stimulation, and inspiration to flow in. But in that case, I should have had most of that work finished by now. That white canvas should be a masterpiece at least.

"I probably need to get going with that soon."

Now that I thought about it, it wasn't because I wasn't devoted enough to my work and my words. I didn't want to admit it, but it was because of her.

"Hirano-san!"

All my time available. They were all spent on the fun of life with her. And it was fun indeed. Yuuki is a wonderful person, along with the entirety of the Sleeping Knights, but I forgot that life wasn't going to reward me for just living the moment. I was a nineteen-year-old - no longer the naive and playful high schooler I was a few years prior. I had so many responsibilities to fulfill and work toward now. And that in itself could not be achieved by simply wasting it away in what is called the moment's fun, under the justification of stress relief.

I had to dive into the ashes if I wanted to get it done. For as long as I could withhold. ALO could be left for later when I had done as best as I could, not when I had done enough.

I turned around to Yuuki, who was rushing up enthusiastically to me, seemingly had something up her sleeves.

"Yeah? What's your assessment?"

"I've decided to make it my own sword skill. It seems like a formidable move to be unleashed." Yuuki replied as she slowed down in her approach.

"Hmm, I'm kind of skeptical of the effectiveness." To my honest skepticism, I said. "But then again, you're holding a seven hundred prerequisite weapon and killed over thirty people, while I had my butts handed to a burly Gnome. Your assessment is perhaps much better than mine."

"It's not like you're entirely wrong." Yuuki showed her support to my claim. "You wouldn't know until you try it."

"You're probably right." And I really had nothing to disagree. But was that really it though? She still hadn't fully created that sword skill yet I believed.

"Oh, it's Florence-san!" Yuuki finally noticed the familiar acquaintance: the witness to our childish bickering the other day. "How are you doing?"

"I'm good, thank you Yuuki-san." Satsuki, or rather Florence in this game, replied, as polite and respectful as ever. "I was just passing by today. Do you mind if I join in on your training?"

"A friend of Hirano-san is always welcomed! Do you want me to teach you anything?" Yuuki cheerfully replied.

"I'm good, thank you Yuuki-san. I'd just watch you guys like last time."

"Suit yourself!" She replied. "But man, I'm still stuck at creating the perfect set of moves. It has to be smooth, powerful, accurate and leaves no room for my opponent to counter!"

"Well, that's practically impossible." I remarked bluntly. "It is like a multi-scale seesaw, so it can't be all of them…I'd say just focus on one."

"Hmmm…I guess that's true…but there's just this strange feeling of imperfection that it ticks me off."

"Like what?"

"The feeling when someone would be able to counter it, no matter how hard I tried. I know that's something that always happens, but when theorizing these skills, it still bothers me."

It's kind of hard to blame that actually.

"...Guys, I have a suggestion." Florence shyly raised her request for a voice. And granted when we both ceased our discussion to turn over to her. "How about you guys duel each other out?"

We both glanced at each other curiously to her suggestion. Dueling…hmmm, it wasn't a bad idea. I kind of got it already.

"Last time I enjoyed seeing you guys fight each other." She said as she held her bow closely to her. "It's refreshing to see, and I learned a lot from watching your moves and skills with the sword, although I don't really use swords myself."

I glanced over to Yuuki, who had just exactly the same look as me, as she gave a shrug and a confident smile. Same thought. So we're gonna duke this out again like two cavemen? Ok, fine by me!

Both of us moved apart from one another for a distance before turning to look at each other to confirm their readiness.

"You want flights?" I asked.

"Hmm…nah. I'd love a close-up confrontation. I mean that's what most duels and boss fights are, right?" She replied, to which most were on point that I had nothing to protest against, and nothing to disagree too.

"Alright, works for me." It sucked a little that I lost around half of the space to wiggle around, but this wasn't supposed to be a fair duel anyway. It's an inspiration duel, pardon my terrible terms. It's the same kind of thing with writings or paintings. You gotta get on the driver's wheels to get something out of it.

I unsheathed my blade attached to the small rope wrapping around the sword's hilt. It wasn't the old Swiss Saber anymore though. This baby, instead, was the patronage to me and Yuuki's hard work that day, though I'd admit she did so much more than I did.

Once the rope was loosened, I slid the sword clear in the open. A trademark green silhouette dictated its identity. Blade of Grass. A particularly unique and secret weapon that could actually bend the blades themselves, like a western fencing sword. However, it was quite comparable to Yuuki's Obsidian Crusader, with much less damage dealt per hit, but it was incredibly light, so I could easily dish out a motherload of slashes and stabs if my hand is capable of it, making the damage output just the same or even more than Yuuki's weapon given good hand. But the important fact was that you could play it hybrid between a normal two-sided edge blade and the fencing sword. Yeah, you could actually use the edges to slash, even though it is bendable. I didn't know how much pseudo-physics was involved, but that was just ridiculous synergy. No wonder why this is such a hidden weapon, and obtainable only once. Having it obtainable by normal quest or via purchase is just a recipe for disaster.

Unlike last time I saw her fight, she didn't reverse grip her blade. But instead she let one arm loose behind her, whilst her sword-wielding arm simply pointed the blade a little pointing forward at me. It did look like a more natural pose to sword fighting than her reverse grip, but it wasn't something I was familiar with.

"I thought you'd be more aggressive Hirano-san." Yuuki commented as I got battle-ready. Oh, I get it…

"This isn't an honor duel, remember?" I replied. "You said you wanted an offensive move, didn't you?"

"Aww, you remembered that." Yuuki seemed touched by the small gesture. "Well then…"

Her pose changed swiftly. She impressively spun her blade around her palm, before it stopped with the blade pointed directly at my face.

A nerve shot up my brain. A sign of impending doom. And the next thing I realized was that the distance between me and her was now only inches apart. And her blades even closer.

Out of pure instinct, I slammed my blade onto hers. An uncomfortable defense for sure. I had, again, lost my initiative, and I had to get it back. Fast.

Without even considering the consequences, my free hand latched onto Yuuki's blade directly. Then, with my other hand on my Grass Blade stopping the weapon, I pulled my two hands in two opposite directions, instantaneously freed my weapon and gave me the needed initiative, at the cost of a couple of health.

I immediately lunged my sword at Yuuki, taking full advantage of my weapon's elasticity, spun the entire blade around in a conic shape. Yuuki, having a little taken aback by my sudden violent countermeasure, hurriedly parried my entire blade away before taking a step back, setting her body sideways to me. There, she readied another strike against me. Or rather multiple strikes.

One horizontally from the right side. I quickly met it by bringing the strong point of my blade to stopped it right at its track. One diagonally right to left, to which I repeated. Then all of a sudden she quickly retracted her blade before attempting a full-frontal stab, with both hands on the hilt. To which I barely avoided. I was forced to basically punch Yuuki's weapon away with my own, meanwhile sidestepping to hopefully get out of the way of the weapon before steel meets flesh.

"Hmph…" Yuuki huffed, though it didn't seem to be directed towards me. After regaining her balance, she turned around to me, then up to Florence, then back to me.

"You have something?" I asked, to which she shook her head a bit hesitantly.

"...I don't know. I'll see if I have anything." She said, before getting back to her battle-ready posture. The brief moment of chat and non-tension ended abruptly as Yuuki zipped a beeline straight at me with her weapons ready to bring me the one-minute countdown of revival time. Though this time both I and she realized something.

"Haaaahhhh!"

Instead of a solid combination of sword movements, Yuuki instead devoted almost her entire time attacking me with her flurries of sword stabs. It would have been easy handiwork if I had a shield here, but unfortunately, I ditched that long ago. And for that, I dearly struggled to parry her attacks. The first, second stabs I was still keeping up, but from then on each of them either took strands of my white hair at best or scuttled my health pool at worst. A few of them even made direct hits on my chest armor.

'Shit. Not having any air maneuvers is a pain.'

I repeatedly went into full-reverse, and Yuuki kept pushing on like a predator. I did try a couple of counterattacks here and there, but they were mere desperate attempts. Yuuki knew these attacks too well and parried them all. And not before long, one of my pathetic attempts at retaliation was countered by a violent crash, and then pushed away by a skillful hand rotation, giving Yuuki all the openings she wanted to cut me to pieces. And no, unlike last time, she wasn't going to spare me. I could see it in her eyes.

And that moment, I saw the combo that would echo into infamy among ALO players.

Ten. That was the number of times my chest had been pierced. Two to my shoulders. Two to my hips. Four surrounding the two overlaps that shot through the heart. I felt my health bar taking a complete nosedive. From healthy green to dangerous red, and it was guaranteed to deplete in any second now. But not letting a beautifully and perfectly executed combo go to ruin, Yuuki turned her entire body around, with the grace of a ballet dancer, her long purple hair dazzling in the motion, and her sword ferocious with the potential. It pierced my body one last time, exactly where my impressed heart is supposed to be, completing the beautiful combo, and completely ended me as well.

The health bar disappeared, and I felt my entire body disintegrate into nothingness. The hands, the feet, and then my chest. It wasn't a feeling I hadn't experienced before, but this time, there was something really different about it. Something that didn't make me feel disappointed whenever I die, but in fact…satisfied.

It was the same feeling I wanted to see, before my eventual departure.

"...You've got it, haven't you?"

And with that, I dissipated into the air. The only thing remained was the viridescent green flame.

* * *

Eventually, though, I was quickly brought back to life thanks to Yuuki, saving me the lengthy journey back here. Though before I could even feel my own flesh again, Yuuki was already up at my throat, trying to share her never-ending excitement with me.

"Eleven hit combo. I can't wait to see this being revered among the ALO community!" Yuuki excitedly exclaimed.

"Didn't you always." I replied, snarkily, but still benignly amused. "Thanks to you, I've been completely overshadowed into obscurity."

"Now remember, don't ever stay with this girl ever," I turned over to Florence, who had been watching the fight since with that big impressionable puppy eyes. "If you want to gain some popularittttyy."

Ow!

Something was clamping down on my squishy cheeks like a crab's claw. Thanks to the pain reduction system, the whole thing felt less of a menace than it should have. But someone was still trying to mold my mouth like a pizza in the making, so it didn't make it any less of an inconvenience.

"And don't listen to this guy ever," Yuuki pressed her face close to mine, also turning toward my friend. "If you want to be popular to begin with."

"Aaatt lleaasstt II'm qquuiitte ggoodd allreaddyy." I slurred, Yuuki still grabbing hold my cheek tightly.

"Ehehe." The braided Undine giggled a little, seemingly amused by this sort of behavior. "Sorry Hirano-kun, but I'll listen to Yuuki any day."

What?!

Really Satsuki? Ditching your good friend like that?!

"Oh, I see how it is." I bitterly admitted, as Yuuki finally let me go. That I got ganged up on because I'm the only guy here. I get it! "Ok, I've lost. You guys happy?"

"I sure am!" Yuuki proudly puffed her chest. "Cause I've successfully pressed your buttons, haven't I?"

…Yeah, she definitely did. A direct hit. It is super effective!

"But anyway." I turned the topic away. "Are you gonna record it anytime soon, now that you've figured it out?"

"Ah yeah," Yuuki uttered. "I'll do it now when the iron's still hot."

"Sure." I couldn't help but smile, as she nodded before skittling over to the training dummy earlier. She figured a beautiful combo in the middle of combat, executed it perfectly on me as well. I knew I said this countless times already, but she was indeed a professional-level player, outclassing me in every single way, strong enough to even find elegance and beauty in her very own expertise.

"You seem like you already miss her, Hirano-kun."

Satsuki said, half-teasingly, but her tongue was genuinely sweet and full of curiosity.

"I won't say that I don't." I had to admit. She was the source of all my fun and inspiration to continue my days, so not getting to see her as usually as it should be was a bit of a downer. "But it's not like it's going to be a long time. It's just three weeks, and I'll probably still pop in once in a while."

"Still…" She pressed further. "I think back of the first duel I saw between you and Yuuki. You aren't really just friends with her, are you?"

My shy introverted friend. What happened to that side of you now? And why was I always surrounded by mischievous women?

But was I really in love?

'No no no.'

Even if I did, it would still be awkward. Yuuki was 15. I was 19. While four years of a gap wasn't abnormal, the fact that she was still technically considered underage was the issue.

"Ohh, don't give me that look."

The look judging me as a lolicon. And besides, who knows if my feelings towards her were merely admiration or genuine romance. If I couldn't fully comprehend this, then no one could.

"But I can see why she's such a good match for you."

"Hmm? I don't think it's as simple as being able to entertain me."

Satsuki shook her head, seemingly mocking my own ignorance.

"No. It's because she's an empathetic girl."

Huh?

Empathy? How did she-

"How do you know?"

"Remember I once said an Undine girl who helps me with the game?"

"Yeah?"

"That girl happened to be one of your guildmates, Siune. She didn't tell me exactly what was going on, but I could tell from her own attempts at hiding things from strangers. It was like Yuuki and you."

No wonder…we were probably too similar to each other.

"So I just had a pretty strong basis for a guess."

I laughed wholeheartedly.

"I don't know what exactly was going on either. And I think she doesn't as well" I said, looking at Yuuki. "But we all get each other. So I guess you're right. I'm impressed."

Satsuki followed me soon after; a cute giggle and a kind little smile. A reminder of one good friend I had. I was glad to stumble across this girl that day in college.

"Hehehe. You're welcome." She thanked. "And also, if you don't mind."

"Hmm?" My eyebrows piqued.

"I wanna get to know her a little better. T-Though I don't really need guild membership…I just wanna hang around her for a bit."

Then it turned wavy as I questioned her curious motive.

"Why do you ask me? I'm not her parent."

"You know…" She rolled her eyes over to the purple-haired girl at the corner, still recording the sword skill. Ohh…

I pushed her head away from me jokingly. That was probably not a good influence, from whoever she got it from, but whatever.

Not before long, Yuuki finished her recordings and was tooting her way back to the two of us. She looked happy. Probably a good recreation I guess.

"You got it?" I asked

"Yup!" She answered happily. That's good to hear. "But I haven't named the skill yet. So far it has only been OSS No 10."

"Naming things are difficult I know…Hmm" I thought to myself. What she created was an 11-hit sword skill that resembled the letter X, with two hits at the epicenter. I'd imagine some name that had something to do with that. 'X Marks the Spot'? Nah, not befitting such a beautiful sword skill. 'Realm Divide'? Well, debatable, but it's not like you were cutting the poor guy to small little pieces anyway, but sounded cooler no less.

Yuuki stared at me for long, only interrupted by a few eye glances sideway. Then a smile on her face as she said.

"I think I'll name this skill Mother's Rosario."

Mother's…Rosario?

"What…does that mean?" I was confused. Rosario. Is that even a word?

"Ehehe. It's a puzzle for you to figure out~" She sweetly told me. "If you haven't, then I'll tell you at one point."

Oh god, that sort of thing again. What deep meaning worth a masterpiece was she hiding here? To be fair it was worth a masterpiece, but still, I was the one who helped her develop the skill. I deserved to at least be told about it.

"Well ok~" I shrugged my hands as my eyes rolled like a planet's orbit. Prying her on it was just asking for more trouble.

And so, Mother's Rosario was officially a sword skill. If I wasn't mistaken, that would qualify as the longest player-made combo in the entire game. I didn't know how effective it would be, but still a record to be marveled at. But hey, what was I surprised at? It's Yuuki Konno we're talking about.

For being the one who witnessed the creation of such masterpieces, I'd also love to see how it'd fare on dueling ground, but unfortunately…

"So many thanks for today, Hirano-san!" Yuuki, like a lottery winner, cheerfully showed her appreciation to me. "For your favor today, I'll buy you a treat to the Tremble Shortcake later when you get back into the game again!"

Urgghhh…

"That's now a funny gag for you, huh?" I said.

No joking. Even if someone buys that thing for me as a treat, I'd still guilty.

"Hahaha. Come on!" Yuuki laughed. "You're with the top 1% of ALO's society right now, you don't have to feel bad!"

"What is that?" Satsuki gently chimed in.

"That's a cursed food item in this game. Worth around two hundred times your rent in this game." I turned around.

"...That's uhhh…" She was a bit stunned by my estimation. And once her mental calculation was complete, her jaws had seemed to drop. Yeah...no.

"Sorry, we're only middle-class citizens. We'll never understand that feeling."

And besides…

"Besides, I'll probably have to take a break from this game a little bit."

At that moment, her grin quickly disappeared.

"Why, Hirano-san?" She asked, frowning yet didn't seem angered or anything.

"I have real-life things to attend to." I said. "In particular, I have an art contest to attend 3 weeks from now."

"An art contest?" Yuuki's eyes flashed up again. "So you're taking my words for it, huh?"

"Pfft, yeah." I nodded profusely. "I'm trying things out. I don't know how it will turn out, but…I'll try."

"Mhm." Yuuki's smile radiated again, but this time with so much less enthusiasm. Three weeks wouldn't sound like a big deal for people like me, but for Yuuki, it could be a long time, considering she only had this game as her life.

"If anything, you'll have my friend, Florence, who'll accompany you." I turned around again, to which Satsuki nodded.

"If you don't mind me of course."

Yuuki flashed her a reassuring smile.

"No no no, Florence-san. I absolutely welcome you! Feel free to drop by our clubhouse or send me a message if you wanna hang out. It's just…"

Her head dropped a little.

"It'll be less lively at the Sleeping Knights without you. It has been so fun that I forgot how long you've been in this guild, or that you don't share our schedule." She said. "But we'll be cheering for you Hirano-san. Be sure to bring in the first prize home!"

But her thumbs-up still erupted with cheer. To which I felt a weird surge of confidence within me.

"Alright! Watch me win it then!"

My feeling of uncertainty seemed to vanish, even if the first prize was really a huge boulder to move. But for that moment, even with my body broken up piece by piece by ALS, I still felt I could move mountains with my talents.

"Good night, Hirano-san."

Yuuki waved. And I waved back. The wings behind me materialized. I flew away to my inn, where I would log out of the games. For three weeks. And already I missed her. All the time we had together. It felt so fun, so relaxing. I had wanted it to last. But I knew at the time that it couldn't. There was still a life to live. Now it would be just three weeks now, but it would be much longer once I come out to the working world. Or maybe even worse than that.

But it would be a life worth living. I'm sure of it.


End file.
